Legal briefing on the rights of stateless Palestinians in the UK September 2025 3. Protection under the 1954 convention 3.1. The rights of stateless persons in the UK The key international legal instruments relating to the protection of stateless persons and prevention of statelessness are the 1954 Convention and the 1961 Convention. The UK is State party to both of these conventions, although it maintains several reservations122 and neither convention has been fully incorporated into domestic law. Some of the rights enshrined in the 1954 Convention are implemented through the Immigration Rules Appendix Statelessness, while many of the provisions of the 1961 Convention are enacted through the British Nationality Act 1981. Although the UK is not State Party to either the 1997 European Convention on Nationality or the 2006 Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession, it has ratified other international human rights instruments that aim to address or prevent statelessness, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 24.3) and the Convention of the Rights of the Child (Articles 2, 3, 7 and 8), among others.123 Under the 1954 Convention, States Parties must ensure that stateless persons have access to certain rights, depending on their degree of attachment to the State (e.g. the right to facilitated naturalisation, to receive identity papers, the right to work, protection from expulsion, and economic and social rights including housing, education, and social security). This ensures that stateless persons, particularly those who have migrated, are granted protection by their host country.124 As States cannot meet these obligations towards stateless persons without a mechanism to identify who on their territory is stateless, the obligation to identify and determine statelessness, as well as to grant a route to protection (i.e. residence and rights in line with the Convention) for stateless people, is implicit in the 1954 Convention.125 The 1961 Convention obliges States to contribute to the reduction of statelessness by establishing safeguards to prevent statelessness, including in the context of acquisition and deprivation of nationality, although these obligations will not be analysed in this briefing.126 3.2. Leave to remain in the UK as a stateless person As outlined in Section 1.2, if a Palestinian applicant is unsuccessful in their asylum claim there may be other routes to access protection or leave to remain in the UK. Another option may be applying 122 The UK maintains reservations to the 1954 Convention regarding Article 38 (reservations), Articles 8 and 9 (exceptions for national security), Article 24 (Labour legislation and social security) and Article 25 (Administrative assistance). In relation to the 1961 Convention, the UK has declared reservations in relation to the grounds upon which nationality can be deprived. See ENS, Statelessness Index: United Kingdom. 123 The UK is also State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Articles 2.2 and 3), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Article 9), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Article 5(d)(iii)), the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 18). 124 1954 Convention. See UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons (2014), paras 132-139. 125 UNHCR, Statelessness Determination Procedures and the Status of Stateless Persons (‘Geneva Conclusions’) (2010); Gábor Gyulai, ‘The determination of statelessness and the establishment of a statelessness-specific protection regime’ in Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014). The ECtHR has also noted that Contracting States have an obligation to provide an effective and accessible procedure enabling the applicant to have the issue of their status determined with due regard to their private-life interests under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). See ECtHR, Hoti v. Croatia, application no. 63311/14 (26 April 2018), para 131; ECtHR, Sudita Keita v. Hungary, application no. 42321/15 (13 May 2020), para 36. 126 Article 8 of the 1961 Convention. 27