LINKING DOCUMENTATION TO OTHER ISSUE AREAS ISSUE KEY IDEAS FOR MESSAGING Human rights States are responsible for ensuring our human rights. Therefore, stateless, at-risk, undocumented, and under-documented people may have little or no protection against human rights violations. Exclusion from documentation of legal identity is often a result of discrimination, and impedes any exercise of civic rights, specifically the right to vote. Minority rights Minorities have a greater likelihood of being affected by a lack of documentation and statelessness, due to discrimination and structural issues that create difficulties in accessing procedures and documents. Development, poverty A lack of legal identity documentation can often prevent people from entering the formal economy, which impacts national development. States lose out on taxes and have incomplete population registers, which is not good for effective development planning. Thus your project relates to all of the SDGs, and not only the ones that reference access to documentation and legal identity. Access to justice Those without a legal identity can rarely file an administrative or court case, for example to register a complaint for mistreatment, as most countries require proof of legal identity. Therefore, the stateless and undocumented will rarely be in a position to seek justice for everyday rights violations, or if they are victims of crimes. This is why the Sustainable Development Goal 16 on Access to Justice references ensuring access to a legal identity. Rule of law Your project will seek to ensure that local officials follow laws written at the national level; casework data can also galvanize advocacy for improved legal frameworks. Governance Helping populations access government services and register themselves can help to perfect population registries, refine population data, and ensure civic participation in governance. Displacement, migration, asylum, trafficking Stateless and undocumented persons are more likely to migrate voluntarily or involuntarily, seeking improved opportunities or fleeing mistreatment. Without official records of their existence, they are more vulnerable to exploitation. They are also vulnerable to losing their land because of difficulty proving or protecting their rights, which can lead to displacement. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE A C O M M U N I T Y- B A S E D P R A C T I T I O N E R ’ S G U I D E : D O C U M E N T I N G C I T I Z E N S H I P A N D OT H E R F O R M S O F L E G A L I D E N T I T Y | 37