6. 1954 Convention Jurisprudence and Case Studies As observed above, the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, Article I(1) provides the internationally accepted definition of a stateless person as someone who “is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.” The 1954 Convention requires states to provide protection to stateless persons, and many of the rights are parallel to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The 1954 Convention also contains an exclusion clause in Article I(2)(i), which states that: “This Convention shall not apply: (i) To persons who are at present receiving from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees protection or assistance so long as they are receiving such protection or assistance.” It is noted that the wording “so long as they are receiving” differs from Article 1D; nor is there an automatic inclusion clause in Article I(2)(i) of the 1954 Convention, as there is in Article 1D of the Refugee Convention. However, persons who are stateless and who are not excluded must be included within the protection of the 1954 Convention, and the two conventions should be interpreted in a similar way in this respect.158 In principle, for a claim under the 1954 Convention, there is no need to prove facts other than that the applicant is stateless and that they are not excluded under any of the exclusion grounds. The decision of France’s highest court (discussed below) interprets the grounds for exclusion (and the reason for not being able to access UNRWA assistance needing to be beyond the control of the applicant) along the lines of Article 1D jurisprudence. There is limited jurisprudence and international guidance relating to potential exclusion or inclusion under the 1954 Convention. The CJEU has not yet made decisions relating to the 1954 Convention. UNHCR’s 2014 Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons explicitly states that it does not address exclusion under the 1954 Convention.159 Jurisprudence from France, Spain, and Hungary, as well as a case study from the UK, demonstrate some of the challenges arising in applications under the 1954 Convention. France: Case 427017 [AB] (Council of State, 24 December 2019) In 2019, the Conseil d’Etat (France’s highest court) issued its judgment in case 427017,160 involving a Palestinian woman who had lived in a refugee camp in Lebanon before travelling to France. The Court set out the criteria that French authorities must consider in relation to Palestinians who had previously lived in an UNRWA area to be eligible for recognition as stateless persons under the 1954 Convention. The Court considered that there are three situations in which a Palestinian refugee who is outside UNRWA’s area of operation must be considered as no longer effectively benefiting from the protection or assistance of UNRWA and therefore should be granted statelessness status: 1) A grave threat to his or her security forced the applicant to leave the UNRWA area of operation in which he or she had previously habitually resided and prevents return; or 2) Such a threat arose after the departure of the person concerned (even if departure was voluntary) and prevents return; or 3) The applicant is, for reasons beyond his or her control, and unrelated to the existence of a threat to his or her security, unable to return to the state or territory of prior habitual residence. 158 See Bianchini, 87-88, n 35 and BADIL, Closing Protection Gaps, 23, n 11. 159 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, Para 13, n 66. 160 Case 427017, issued 24 Dec 2019, available at: https://www.conseil-etat.fr/fr/arianeweb/CE/decision/ 2019-12-24/427017 (in French). [translation/summary: Jesús Tolmo and Cynthia Orchard] For a related blog article in English, see: Giulia Bittoni, ‘Can a Palestinian refugee enjoy the status of a stateless person? A French perspective’ (European Network on Statelessness, 13 MAR 2020), available at: https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/blog/can-palestinian-refugee-enjoy-status-stateless-personfrench-perspective [accessed 30 June 2022]. 29