2016] The Protection of Stateless Persons in Australian Law 421 ble to identify the number or background of stateless persons in Australia with any certainty. A comprehensive empirical mapping study of statelessness in Australia is needed to better understand the population profile of stateless persons (and persons at risk of statelessness) in Australia.99 What is clear, however, is that Australia’s international obligations in respect of stateless persons are engaged by at least a proportion of those who seek protection each year. V T H E P R O T E C T I O N O F S TAT E L E S S P E R S O N S I N A U S T R A L IA Like the Refugee Convention, the 1954 Convention is silent on the procedure required for status determination. Clearly, however, in order to determine who is a ‘stateless person’ — and thus who is owed the rights and entitlements provided for in that treaty — a procedure for determining statelessness is necessary.100 Australia does not have such a procedure within its legislative framework. The mechanism through which Australia seeks to implement certain of its international protection obligations is s 36 of the Migration Act. Since 2011, it has provided protection not only to those who qualify for refugee status (pursuant to the Refugee Convention)101 but also to people to whom Australia owes non-refoulement obligations under the Convention against Torture (‘CAT’) and the ICCPR (known as complementary protection).102 The Act 99 For a detailed study of statelessness in the United Kingdom see UNHCR/Asylum Aid, Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom (2011) <http://www.asylumaid.org.uk/mappingstatelessness-in-the-united-kingdom/>. 100 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, above n 20, 52 [144]. For a detailed overview, see at 6 [8] (citations omitted): Whilst the 1954 Convention establishes the international legal definition of ‘stateless person’ and the standards of treatment to which such individuals are entitled, it does not prescribe any mechanism to identify stateless persons as such. Yet, it is implicit in the 1954 Convention that States must identify stateless persons within their jurisdictions so as to provide them appropriate treatment in order to comply with their Convention commitments. This Handbook advises on the modalities of creating statelessness determination procedures, including questions of evidence that arise in such mechanisms. 101 We note that the Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Act 2014 (Cth) has removed the reference to the Refugee Convention from the Act, but the definition remains anchored in the treaty definition, subject to some modifications. 102 Migration Act s 36(2A) provides that: A non-citizen will suffer significant harm [and thus receive protection] if: (a) the non-citizen will be arbitrarily deprived of his or her life; or