Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2016/05 dedicated procedures66 after thorough consultations with EU and national stakeholders. This endeavor could be facilitated by the European Migration Network (DG HOME) which was mandated to deal with statelessness by the aforementioned Council Conclusions in December 2015. This would be a very important step towards the coherency of the EU’s internal and external statelessness-related human rights policy and hence the credibility of the EU to address statelessness beyond its borders. Furthermore, the European Parliament could equally play a crucial role in this process not only by the means of resolutions, statements and policy debates on relevant issues of concern but also by lobbying for the engagement of national parliaments of countries of concern with a view to passing legislative reforms. 67 To give a positive example, the European Parliament adopted relevant resolutions concerning the situation of stateless populations in the United Arab Emirates68 and Bahrein.69 Considering the related policy areas of the aforementioned diplomatic service of the EU in charge of external relations and strategic partnerships (EEAS), namely human rights and democracy, together with migration and asylum, it is apparent that both areas directly intersect with the incidence of statelessness. EEAS means are extensive, including guidelines (prepared by the Council) and bilateral agreements on Political Dialogue and Cooperation, allowing for extra room for manoeuvre. The EU Delegations (EUDELs) may be perceived as the diplomatic corps of the EU in third countries and multilateral organisations, thus, they play a key role in coordinating the EU policy dialogue at the duty stations, among all diplomatic missions of the EU Member States. In possession of a due mandate, EUDELs based in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey could assume an additional advocacy role in channeling the EU position on statelessness through various instances. EUDEL could release joint statements briefly reflecting on statelessness concerns on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day or important anniversaries of the adoption of the Statelessness Conventions.70 In terms of statelessness concerns, heads of EUDELs, together with interested heads of missions (HoMs) are destined to meet high-ranking government officials in charge of nationality issues. In addition, other staff members of EUDELs in key countries of origin and transit, Human Rights (Gender) Focal Points and European Migration Liaison Officers may also further advance the protection of stateless persons at the local level. Encouraging these countries to sign and align themselves with the objectives of the Statelessness Conventions could indeed give a powerful incentive to prevent childhood statelessness in the MENAT region. Therefore, the EU has been advocating for the protection of the rights of stateless persons by the means of non-binding, declaratory quasi-legal (action plans, guidelines, communications, Council Conclusions, regulations and statements)71 and legal instruments (recommendations and opinions) in its external engagement with non-EU countries. However, there remains a lot of room for development through the application of further non-binding means in terms of both quasi-legal (joint declarations, joint statements) and legal (policy recommendations) tools, as explained above. Further to these means, the EU disposes of other policy frameworks which could be put at the forefront of mainstreaming the rights of stateless persons, including negotiations relating to bilateral political dialogues, mobility partnerships, migration dialogues, enlargement negotiations as an integral part of 66 K Berényi: Statelessness and the refugee crisis in the EU, Forced Migration Review, Issue 53, Refugee Studies Center, University of Oxford, 2016, pp. 69-71. 67 Addressing the human rights policy impact of statelessness in the EU’s external action, DG for External Policies, 2014, p. 6. 68 Resolution 2012/2842(RSP): “Whereas evidence indicates that national security is the pretext for a crackdown on peaceful activism designed to stifle calls for constitutional reform and reform on human rights issues such as statelessness”. 69 Resolution 2013/2513(RSP): “Calls on the Bahraini authorities to ensure that the 31 Bahrainis whose citizenship was withdrawn can appeal the decision before a court, as it is clear that the revocation of the nationality of political opponents by the Bahraini authorities is contrary to international law”. 70 28 September, the day of the adoption of the 1954 Convention relating to the status of stateless persons, has been under consideration to be adopted as the international day dedicated to the fight against statelessness. 71 These instruments do not intend to have legal effects; they rather reflect on the political position of the EU regarding issues of concern. 8