The State of Statelessness Research 7 Research Partnerships Beyond the world of academia, statelessness has also been an area of burgeoning research interest for UN, government and civil society actors. In this context, the focus has largely been threefold: to clarify and develop the content of relevant international standards, to discuss national policy and to identify the size, composition and situation of stateless populations in specific countries. With regard to the first of these, a prime example is the research and consultation process initiated by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with a view to elaborating guidelines on the interpretation of the core international norms contained in the UN statelessness conventions.13 Other examples include the reports compiled at the request of the UN Human Rights Council, addressing various topics relating to the arbitrary deprivation of nationality and with a particular focus on statelessness,14 as well as research conducted by civil society organisations in order to help further the understanding of human rights norms or contribute to the development of jurisprudence in this field.15 In respect of studies of national 13 14 15 The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. This research and consultation process underlying the issuance of UNHCR guidelines on these standards was conducted as follows: a background paper was prepared, drawing together existing literature and policy documentation on the relevant questions; an expert meeting was convened where academic scholars, government and UN experts and key civil society stakeholders discussed the research findings and deliberated the interpretation of the relevant international norms; conclusions were issued from the expert meeting and used to subsequently elaborate UNHCR guidelines on the requisite questions. For instance, with regard to the concept of a stateless person under international law, the May 2010 expert meeting led to the adoption of Conclusions on The Concept of Stateless Persons under International Law (‘Prato Conclusions’), (http:// refworld.org/docid/4ca1ae002.html) and thereafter the issuance of UNHCR Guidelines on Statelessness No. 1 in February 2012 (http://refworld.org/docid/4ca1ae002.html). These include A/HRC/13/34 of December 2009, detailing the international legal framework relating to the right to a nationality; A/HRC/19/43 of December 2011, exploring the impact of arbitrary deprivation of nationality on the enjoyment of other human rights; and A/HRC/C/23/23 of March 2013, looking at legislative and administrative measures that discriminate against women in nationality-related matters. A good example is work by the Open Society Justice Initiative, such as its submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on ‘Racial Discrimination and the Rights of Non-Citizens’ (February 2004); the ‘Written Comments on the Case of Dilcea Yean and Violeta Bosico v. Dominican Republic’ (April 2005); and the ‘Arguments on the Merits of the Communication on the Case of Nubian Children in Kenya v. Republic of Kenya’ (17 May 2010). tilburg law review 19 (2014) 3-10