‘Untrustworthy and Unbelievable’ gatekeeper.°? Vasudha Chhotray and Fiona McConnell describe identity documents as *... a particular mode of writing the history of the State and its technologies of rule’. This is indicative of the fact that the right to documentation can only be accessed upon the fulfilment of criteria that the state explicitly sets out. Around 1.1 billion people worldwide are stranded in a grey zone — they have a technical claim to membership through jus soli or jus sanguinis, but are unable to prove their identity.°! The implications of this are dire — it gets in the way of full enjoyment of rights and welfare schemes from the state, and make it difficult to move from one state jurisdiction to the next.®* Hunter suggests that the category of confirmed citizens who are unable to access rights due to a lack of documentation are ‘effectively’ stateless persons.®? There is a significant chunk of the population who are not registered at birth — around 30% of the world’s population remains without birth registration.® This is exacerbated by demographic indicators. For instance, low-income families and ethnic minorities have tenuous relationships with the state and are inhibited by the bureaucratic hurdles to be overcome in order to achieve registration.®> Data shows that one in three persons in low-income countries are unable to procure an ID due to the lack of necessary documentation.®* Wealth can influence access to services, leaving those who are better off inside these countries with greater documentary certainty. The process of acquiring documents is also acutely gendered. Work cards and national IDs are more likely to be acquired by men simply because they have greater access to public spaces, as specified. Gender inequalities get in the way of marginalised women acquiring civil registration and national IDs.°’ In lowerincome countries, for instance, 44 per cent of women do not have IDs because of legal barriers to access.°8 These legal norms can often be reflective of cultural norms around the role of women in society. Unsurprisingly, it 1s seen that the lack of ID is concentrated among women with low levels of education and rural 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 Kathryn Takabvirwa, ‘Whose Identity [Document] Is It?’ (MA Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010 12 <https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0a19/3dafb750c93194ace8b2 10a9a25e46418fd3 pdf. Vasudha Chhotray and Fiona McConnell, ‘Certifications of Citizenship: The History, Politics and Materiality of Identity Documents in South Asian States and Diasporas’ (2018) 26(2) Contemporary South Asia 111. World Bank, ‘1.1 Billion “Invisible” People without ID Are Priority for New High Level Advisory Council on Identification for Development’, 7he World Bank (Press Release, 12 October 2017) <https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/10/12/1 1-billioninvisible-people-without-id-are-priority-for-new-high-level-advisory-council-onidentification-for-development>; Wendy Hunter, ‘Undocumented Nationals: Between Statelessness and Citizenship’ in Melani Cammett and Ben Ross Schneider (eds), Elements in the Politics of Development (Cambridge University Press 2019). Hunter (n 61) 1-2. ibid. ‘Completeness of Birth Registration (%), The World <https://data. worldbank.org/indicator/SP.REG.BRTH.ZS>. Hunter (n 61) 9-12. Bank (Web Page, 2020) Global ID Coverage, Barriers, and Use by the Numbers: An In-Depth Look at the 2017 I[D4D-Findex Survey (Report, The World Bank 2019) <https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33430> (/D4D-Findex — Survey Report). 67 Mayra Buvinic and Eleanor Carey, ‘Leaving No One Behind: CRVS, Gender and the SDGs’ (Centre d’excellence sur les systeémes ESEC 2019) 3. 68 = /D4D-Findex Survey Report (n 66). 243