Legal briefing on the rights of stateless Palestinians in the UK September 2025 Article 1 of the 1954 Convention provides the international customary law definition of a stateless person, which should be used in the interpretation and application of any other legal instrument referring to stateless persons, including the Refugee Convention and the 1961 Convention.21 ARTICLE 1, 1954 convention relating to the status of stateless persons Definition of the term “Stateless person” For the purpose of this Convention, the term “stateless person” means a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law. The 1930 Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws provides that it is for each State to determine under its own law who its nationals are, and ‘any question as to whether a person possesses the nationality of a particular State shall be determined in accordance with the law of that State’.22 Likewise, UNHCR has emphasised that the determination of whether the person is recognised as a national should not be based on a Contracting State’s interpretation of another State’s nationality laws, but rather be informed by consultations with and written confirmation from the State in question of the nationality status of the person concerned.23 A State’s response to an enquiry is also not the end of that enquiry as determining statelessness requires an analysis of how the competent authorities apply the law in practice (including any discriminatory practices of the competent authority in specific cases).24 1.3.2. Nationality, statelessness and Palestinian identity Part of the challenge in defining who is a ‘stateless person’ is that the statelessness conventions do not define ‘nationality’. In some contexts, the terms ‘national’ and ‘nationality’ have a general meaning, referring to a shared identity, sometimes based on race or ethnicity, language, religion, or affinity and connection to a particular place, people, or political identity.25 Nationality also has a legal meaning under international law, often synonymous with ‘citizenship’ (in the English language) in domestic law.26 While the 1954 Convention does not define the terms ‘national’ or 'nationality’ (and nor do most other international treaties) there is a general understanding that nationality in international law refers to a legal bond between a person and a State and does not refer to a person’s ethnic origin. 21 International Law Commission, Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection with commentaries, Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 2006 Vol. II (Part Two). The term ‘de facto stateless’ is not defined in international law and should not be relevant for the purposes of determining whether a person is stateless under the 1954 Convention, which should only be carried out by reference to the definition in Article 1 of the 1954 Convention. In fact, many situations which may be described as ‘de facto statelessness’ fall within the scope of the 1954 Convention where individuals are not considered nationals of a State under the operation of its laws. A distinction between de jure and de facto statelessness is not made in this briefing to avoid unduly limiting the personal scope of the 1954 Convention. For an analysis of these terms, see Laura van Waas, ‘The UN Statelessness Conventions’ in Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014), Ch 3. 22 League of Nations, Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Law, Treaty Series, vol. 179, p. 89, No. 4136, 13 April 1930, Articles 1 and 2. 23 UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 5-9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (May 2020) para 81. Previously, the ECtHR has placed reliance on UNHCR guidelines, as seen in ECtHR, M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, (application no. 30696/09), 21 January 2011, para 295. 24 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons (2014), para 23. 25 Francesca P Albanese and Lex Takkenberg, Palestinian Refugees in International Law (2nd Edn) (Oxford Public International Law, 2020) Part One (III), S. 3.2.2, citing Khalidi R, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of modern national consciousness, New York: Columbia university press 2010. 26 Alice Edwards, ‘The Meaning of Nationality’ in Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 8