AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022 for non-citizens in international rights conventions and the realities faced when the national laws are implemented. Indeed, in practice, statelessness is often accompanied by the deprivation of basic rights and discriminatory treatment and these gaps between rights and realities must be tightened and closed. This is because the plight of stateless people is a matter of human security and ‘the deficits of statelessness can, like a genetic disability, be transmitted from one generation to the next’,36 continuing the cycle of degradation, rights violations, and hopelessness. The consequences of statelessness include lack of access to healthcare, social services, and legal protection. Stateless individuals and their families generally have poor prospects — they often lack access to education, do not have a national identity, and are subjected to social stigma, forced evictions, discrimination, violence, and harassment.37 Statelessness is often transmitted from one generation to the next. This causes many children to start out life without a nationality, on a pathway to childhood statelessness. Violation of the right to nationality is (in)directly linked to the violation of other rights such as education, nationality, political participation, arbitrary detention, property ownership, and freedom of movement. Without citizenship, one cannot be issued an identity card or move with ease — which can lead to unemployment, labour rights violations, and exploitative, insecure, and unpredictable employment. This then has an impact on accessing basic services such as housing,38 food, and education.39 Stateless individuals are excluded from social security, pension entitlements, disability allowances and other social assistance or financial services, thus having inadequate standards of living. Family life, functioning and relationships can also be severely impacted by statelessness and the official invisibility. From a family systems perspective, one family member lacking citizenship can be a challenge to the functioning of that family and the preservation of relationships and the family unit. There may be difficulty in contracting marriages, finding a partner, or desiring to marry or start a family. Threats of arrest, detention and deportation affect the enjoyment of family life and can lead to physical family separation. The stateless often face insoluble problems on property rights or the custody of children following spousal death or separation. When it comes to healthcare, statelessness not only exacerbates the risk of infections, it further limits options for access to medical care, including maternal and child health.40 COVID-19 also exposed further vulnerabilities of stateless persons. The links between statelessness and early or forced marriages and trafficking in persons have often been overlooked.41 Individuals and families who are stateless for prolonged periods of time, out of frustration and a sense of agency take it upon themselves to resolve their cases to the best of their abilities and use the limited Roshni Chakraborty & Jacqueline Bhabha (2021) op cit note 3 237 at 243. Tharani Loganathan et al. (2022) op cit note 28 1 at 18. Ben Gronowski ‘The rights to a nationality and the right to adequate housing: An analysis of the intersection of two largely “invisible” human rights violations’ (2019) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 239 at 240. 39 Aisha K Yousafzai et al. (2022) op cit note 10 154 at 155. 40 Roshni Chakraborty & Jacqueline Bhabha (2021) op cit note 3 237 at 243. 41 Ajwang’ Warria (2020) op cit note 15 6 at 13. 36 37 38 48