Leaving No One Behind: Statelessness and the Sustainable Development Goals Unless formally recognized with the status of “stateless person” under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and issued a travel document by the State recognizing that status – a vanishingly small percentage of stateless persons in the world – they are unable to cross international borders by regular routes. At the same time, they are highly vulnerable to the most exploitative forms of human trafficking.40 Before I received my [Thai National] ID card, I could not go to school. When my father was staying at the provincial hospital, I could not go visit him there. When my family had no money, I could not go find work. I literally could not go anywhere! (Formerly stateless man from the Thai highlands).41 As this testimony shows, the recognition of nationality can be transformative of a person’s prospects. In Kenya, people from the Makonde community,42 descendants of Mozambican labourers granted citizenship following an extended advocacy campaign on their behalf, explained the difference their new ID cards would make: I will open a bank account and save money. I will also join a women savings group. This will help me expand my business and renovate my house.43 The IDs have opened the world before us. Before I got the ID card, my phone number was registered in the name of my friend whose ID I used to withdraw cash. Today, I’m registered with my own.44 Impoverished communities Communities in which all or a large percentage of residents are stateless are disproportionately likely to be poor and to be excluded from access to public services, even if some individual members of that community have a recognized nationality. In Thailand, for example, communities in which many members are stateless are impoverished because stateless individuals cannot travel for work, since they lack the documents that allow free movement. Remittances from family members abroad – which assist communities in which the majority are recognized as citizens to improve their collective situation – are not available, or the intended beneficiary cannot collect them without the right identity document.45 In Cambodia, similarly, ethnic Vietnamese not recognized as Cambodian nationals face exclusion from public services, restrictions on freedom of movement, arbitrary fines for carrying out their traditional livelihood of fishing and are unable to access any opportunities that might enable a move out of poverty.46 40. Rijken et al., “The nexus between statelessness and human trafficking in Thailand”; Siobhán Mullally, “Refugee protection, internal displacement and statelessness: report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children”, A/HRC/53/28 (Geneva: United Nations, 3 July 2023), https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4028233. 41. Quoted in Amanda Flaim, “No land’s man: sovereignty, legal status, and the production of statelessness among highlanders in northern Thailand” (PhD, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, 2015), 172, https://ecommons.cornell.edu/items/773d811e-f5fc-47cd-8794-f9c336c938d8. 42. UNHCR, “Integrated, but undocumented: a study into the nationality status of the Makonde Community in Kenya” (Nairobi: UNHCR (with Haki Centre, KHRC, Haki Africa, and OSIEA), June 2015), https://citizenshiprightsafrica.org/integrated-but-undocumented-a-study-into-the-nationality-status-of-themakonde-community-in-kenya/. 43. Modesta Ndubi, “The Makonde: from statelessness to citizenship in Kenya”, UNHCR 15 March 2017 www.unhcr.org/ke/10581-stateless-becomingkenyan-citizens.html. 44. Fadhili Fredrick, “How life has changed for the Makonde community”, The Nation (Nairobi), 16 June 2017 https://nation.africa/kenya/news/how-life-haschanged-for-the-makonde-community-415888. 45. Flaim, “No land’s man”; Amanda Flaim, Lindy B Williams, and Daniel B Ahlquist, “How statelessness, citizenship, and out-migration contribute to stratification among rural elderly in the highlands of Thailand”, Social Forces 99, no. 1 (2020): 333–65, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soz133. 46. Christoph Sperfeldt, “Minorities and statelessness: social exclusion and citizenship in Cambodia”, International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 27, No. 1 (2020): 94–120, https://doi.org/10.1163/15718115-02701002. 25