Good Practices Paper Action 9 Acceding to the UN Statelessness Conventions UNHCR is publishing a series of Good Practices Papers to help States, with the support of other stakeholders, achieve the goals of its Campaign to End Statelessness within 10 Years. These goals are to: Resolve the major situations of statelessness that exist today Prevent the emergence of new cases of statelessness Improve the identification and protection of stateless populations Each Good Practices Paper corresponds to one of the 10 Actions proposed in UNHCR’s Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014 - 2024 and highlights examples of how States, UNHCR and other stakeholders have addressed statelessness in a number of countries. Solutions to the problem of statelessness have to be tailored to suit the particular circumstances prevalent in a country. As such, these examples are not intended to serve as a blueprint for strategies to counter statelessness everywhere. However, governments, NGOs, international organizations and UNHCR staff seeking to implement the Global Action Plan will be able to adapt the ideas they find in these pages to their own needs. Background Action 9 of the Global Action Plan calls on States to accede to the UN Statelessness Conventions. Statelessness remains a significant global issue even though two international treaties exist to prevent and reduce the phenomenon and protect stateless persons. The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Statelessness Convention) sets out the definition of a stateless person and prescribes minimum standards for his or her treatment, while the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Statelessness Convention) establishes the rules that States must follow to prevent statelessness at birth and later in life. Increasing the number of States that are party to these Conventions will bolster the effort to end statelessness worldwide. Too few States are party to the Statelessness Conventions, yet increasing this number will have a direct impact on resolving statelessness. States that accede1 to the Conventions typically do so while undertaking 1 1 This document generally refers to accession as the means by which States agree to become parties to the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions. Please note that the 1954 and 1961 Conventions closed for signature on 31 December 1955 and 31 May 1962, respectively. As a result, the only States that can ratify the Conventions are those which signed before those dates. All other States must accede in order to become parties. CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS