40 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 25(1) the combat of statelessness had been accomplished by the Convention on Certain Questions relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws (especially Articles 14 and 15 thereof),3 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 15)4 and the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women (Article 1).5 As the first international legal instrument to primarily focus on the issue of statelessness and to further develop the customary law definition of statelessness, the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention)6 marked the most important step towards advancing the adoption of the 1961 Convention.7 The starting point of the drafting process of the 1961 Convention was Resolution 319, B III of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which was adopted in August 1950, and requested the International Law Commission to commence the process for the commissioning of draft conventions aiming for the elimination of statelessness.8 Two proposals were drafted by the International Law Commission, while the recognition for the necessity of an international instrument was further highlighted by virtue of UN General Assembly Resolution 896 (IX) that was adopted on 4 December 1954. The more far-reaching draft, which aimed for the elimination of statelessness by means of a broad application of the ius soli principle, was later abandoned by the United Nations Conference on the Elimination or Reduction of Future Statelessness in 1959. Instead, the draft which focussed on the reduction and prevention of statelessness was referred to the United Nations General Assembly.9 The General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness on 30 August 1961 and it entered into force on 13 December 1975 after the sixth accession was recorded two years earlier in accordance with Article 18(1) of the Convention. In 2017, the 1961 Convention has a total of 70 Contracting States and five States had signed, but not yet ratified, the 1961 Convention. As was mentioned above, the final version of the 1961 Convention cannot be regarded as an instrument for the complete elimination of statelessness, but it reduces statelessness at birth, as well as cases of ex lege loss and deprivation of nationality.10 Nevertheless, the 1961 Convention provided for some significant legal developments in the fight against statelessness. The general right for a child, who would otherwise be stateless, to acquire the nationality of the Contracting 3. Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Law, League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 179, p. 89. 4. United Nations General Assembly (General Assembly resolution 217 A), adopted on 10 December 1948. 5. Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 309, p. 65. 6. Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 360, p.117. 7. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), ‘Guidelines on Statelessness No. 1: The definition of ‘‘Stateless Person’’ in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons’, United Nations (2012). 8. United Nations Legal Office, ‘Procedural History of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness’, United Nations (2011), http://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/crs/crs_ph_e.pdf 9. See Summary record of the 6th Plenary meeting (A/CONF.8/SR.6) of 30 March 1958. See further P. Weis, Nationality and Statelessness in International Law (2nd edition, Brill, 1979), p. 251 and G.-R de Groot and O.W. Vonk, International Standards on Nationality Law; texts, cases and materials (Wolf Legal Publishers, 2015), p. 161-163. 10. The 1961 Convention defines loss of nationality as the automatic withdrawal of nationality by operation of law (‘ex lege’). ‘Deprivation’ is interpreted as the withdrawal of citizenship that is initiated by state authorities. See UNHCR, ‘Summary Record of the 15th Meeting, A/CONF.9/ C.1/ SR.15’, United Nations (1959), http://legal.un.org/docs/? path¼./diplomaticconferences/1959_statelessness/docs/english/vol_2/a_conf9_c1_sr15.pdf&lang¼E, p. 1 and UNHCR, ‘Summary Record of the 16th Meeting, A/CONF.9/ C.1/ SR.16’, United Nations (1959), http://legal.un.org/ docs/?path¼./diplomaticconferences/1959_statelessness/docs/english/vol_2/a_conf9_c1_sr16.pdf&lang¼E, p. 2.