Statelessness, Development, and Protection of ‘Disadvantaged Groups’ obligation to report or index the numbers of stateless persons in their territories have worsened the phenomenon.13 The consequences of being without nationality, denial of citizenship, and inability to register to vote, marry, and apply for a travel document in a country of abode, exacerbate the deprivation of stateless persons. The long-term detention of stateless persons outside their country of origin or previous country of residence when refused re-entry to their territories of origin often threatened their well-being and community. Thus, denial of their basic rights — rights to education, employment, and medical care — for being unable to prove any legal connection to a country,14 not only exacerbates their vulnerability and marginalisation but induces development challenges. Unfortunately, the neglect of stateless persons and communities by development actors and processes has often lagged them in national or regional development. Against this backdrop, scholars and activists have increasingly advocated for incorporating statelessness into development programming and research. The ISI’s World Statelessness Report (2014) advances the human security and prospects of stateless persons.15 Remarkably, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), articulated in 2015, unlock significant opportunities in this regard, by setting an ambitious agenda to be achieved by 2030.15 Although statelessness is not explicitly encapsulated in the SDGs, the relevance and applicability of the goals to statelessness are apparent at first glance. Given the above dichotomy, this study advances the need to understand the nexus between the fundamental causes of statelessness and the challenges of noninclusive development. It takes into cognisance, (a) how the growing vulnerability of marginalised groups, including the stateless, enhances the risk and trend of statelessness; (b) the implication of intergenerational statelessness on human security and development; and (c) bridging the implementation gaps between national policies and multilateral mechanisms to address the vulnerability of stateless persons and other excluded groups. Furthermore, an inductive review of public documents — secondary and primary — including official reports, online sources, and scholarly publications on statelessness and development is conceived along several themes. These include: (a) critical debates on statelessness, frameworks, and campaign for the rights to a nationality, toward socio-economic inclusion; (b) the SDGs and statelessness; (c) socio-economic rights — risks of exclusion, discrimination, and intergenerational statelessness; and (d) challenges and prospects. UNHCR & Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Nationality and Statelessness: A Handbook for Parliamentarians (2005) 6. 14 Ibid. 15 ISI op cit note 5 at 3. 16 UNHCR 'The Sustainable Development Goals and addressing statelessness' Briefing Notes (2017) 2, available at http:// www.refworld.org/docid/58b6e3364.html 13 59