UNHCR is pleased to announce the launch of the Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons. The Handbook sets out guidance on interpretation and implementation of the provisions of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The 1954 Convention establishes the definition of a "stateless person" and sets out minimum standards for the treatment of stateless persons.
Today, 82 States are party to the 1954 Convention, with 17 accessions in the past three years as a result of intense work by UNHCR and NGOs in a range of countries around the world. The stepped-up efforts have also led to a rise in the number of countries establishing statelessness determination procedures. Whilst such procedures may only be appropriate for the minority of the world's stateless persons who are in a migratory situation, they are nevertheless critical, providing a route to a status consistent with the standards of both the 1954 Convention and international human rights law. On the other hand, a different approach is called for in the case of stateless persons who are in their own country. They need to be granted a nationality based on their strong connection to a State through, for example, birth or longstanding residence.
The content of this Handbook was first published in 2012 in the form of three UNHCR Guidelines: (1) on the Definition of a Stateless Person, (2) on Statelessness Determination Procedures and (3) on the Status of Stateless Persons. In replacing these Guidelines, the text of the Handbook replicates their content with only minimal changes, principally to address minor gaps identified since publication of the Guidelines and to update references to other UNHCR publications. The Handbook does not include guidance on prevention and reduction of statelessness; these are dealt with instead in separate Guidelines (Guidelines on Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and forthcoming Guidelines on loss and deprivation of nationality).
The Handbook is now available on Refworld: http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html. It will also be accompanied by a new advocacy brochure on statelessness determination procedures, which will also be published by the end of July and made available on Refworld (http://refworld.org/statelessness.html).
We encourage you to disseminate the Handbook widely.
UNHCR Statelessness Team
[Moderator's note: Please click the link below for the Guidelines on Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness: http://refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html]
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