2016] The Protection of Stateless Persons in Australian Law 411 require reform of the nationality laws of their own state (the focus of the 1961 Convention), rather than formal recognition as ‘stateless persons’.51 By contrast, the 1954 Convention establishes a legal status for stateless persons which is particularly relevant to those who find themselves in another country. The provisions of that treaty are the focus of the analysis in the present article given that most stateless persons in Australia have arrived in, and seek the protection of, Australia by virtue of their statelessness. As mentioned above, it was originally intended that the Ad Hoc Committee on Statelessness and Related Problems would draft a treaty to resolve the status of both stateless persons and refugees. However, in its report to the UN Economic and Social Council in 1950,52 the Committee confined its draft text to refugees, with the status of stateless persons relegated to a proposed additional protocol under which states might agree to extend the application of the Refugee Convention mutatis mutandis to stateless persons who were not otherwise covered.53 Although a draft protocol was referred to the Conference of Plenipotentiaries that drafted the Refugee Convention,54 it decided to refer it back to the appropriate organs of the UN for further study.55 In September 1954, the UN Economic and Social Council convened a Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Stateless Persons, which formulated, debated and produced a draft treaty in September 1954.56 Australia was one of only 27 states to participate in the Conference,57 and was 51 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, above n 20, 25 [58]; see also at 26 [59]–[60]. 52 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless Persons, UN ESCOR, 1st sess, UN Docs E/1618, E/AC.32/5 (17 February 1950). 53 Ibid annex III (Proposed Protocol Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons); Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless Persons, UN ESCOR, 2nd sess, UN Docs E/AC.32/8, E/1850 (25 August 1950) annex II (Draft Protocol Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons); Goodwin-Gill, Introductory Note: Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, above n 2; Goodwin Gill, ‘The Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons’, above n 2, 381. 54 Draft Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, GA Res 429 (V), UN GAOR, 5th sess, 325th plen mtg, UN Doc A/RES/429(V) (14 December 1950). 55 For the subsequent history, see Goodwin-Gill, Introductory Note: Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, above n 2. 56 Draft Protocol Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, ESC Res 526A (XVII), UN ESCOR, 17th sess, 784th plen mtg, UN Doc E/RES/526(XVII) (26 April 1954). 57 Final Act of the United Nations Conference on the Status of Stateless Persons, 360 UNTS 117 (28 September 1954) 118.