THE PROBLEM OF STATELESSNESS IN UKRAINE AND THE WAYS OF ADDRESSING IT why the UNHCR-drafted Handbook describe the indirect responsibility for States to take measures to identify stateless persons, including among those at risk of stateless, in their territory and to accord them access to at least a minimum set of rights under the Convention. Implementation of international law on stateless persons’ status Improper implementation of the Conventions in the national legislation negates positive consequences of Ukraine’s accessions. There are still a number of problems on the legislative level, which lead to the impossibility of efficient exercise of rights by stateless persons. For example, the national legislation still does not reflect the 1954 Convention requirement to simplify naturalization proceedings for stateless persons. It also does not accord stateless persons, inter alia, the right to obtain identity papers under article 27 of the Convention. It should also be stressed that, under the 1954 Convention, persons are stateless from the moment they have met the definition of a “stateless person” and not only after recognition of their status by the Contracting States and issuance of the necessary documents. In practice, only documented stateless persons who reside lawfully in the country are granted even the basic rights. Particular complications within the access of the stateless to realizations of general human rights It results in an absolute “absence of rights” of unrecognized and undocumented stateless persons, a legal vacuum, as they don’t even have access to the basic human rights enshrined by the Constitution of Ukraine. An ordinary undocumented stateless person is a person who does not exist: he/she will not be able even to rent a room at the cheapest hotel because they will simply not be able to register him/her ( bribery is not considered); if such a person falls ill or suffers an injury, he/she may not count on qualified medical aid, moreover, if the person is lucky enough to have relatives or friends who can assist with money for treatment, it’s hopeless to think about receiving the remittances through financial institutions as undocumented persons cannot carry out financial transactions. No official employment is possible; no formalization of relations is possible; it is not possible to apply to law-enforcement bodies for the protection of the person’s infringed rights and freedoms, moreover such a person is at permanent risk of unfair and groundless detention by law-enforcement bodies for staying in the country’s territory without documents, with a high probability of subsequent placement into detention centers for foreigners and stateless persons in preparation of removal (that may not be realized a priori). We should also mention the impossibility to 11