Conclusions The above represents only a snapshot of how the traditional view of de facto statelessness has been expanded upon by UNHCR and others in recent years. The remainder of Part II of this paper discusses the key elements of these new approaches in more detail, in particular whether the following categories of persons should be considered “de facto stateless”: • • • Persons who do not enjoy the rights attached to their nationality; Persons who are unable to establish their nationality, or who are of undetermined nationality; Persons who, in the context of State succession, are attributed the nationality of a State other than that of the State of their habitual residence. Given that UNHCR has tended to recommend that all de facto stateless persons should be treated as de jure stateless,113 it is also discussed in relation to the categories above whether it really should be recommended that the persons concerned be treated as de jure stateless for purposes of: (i) protection, including under the 1954 Statelessness Convention; and/or (ii) reduction of statelessness, including under the 1961 Statelessness Convention. The issue of persons inside the country of their nationality is also discussed, as is the extent to which, if at all, each of the above categories can be reconciled with the traditional view of de facto statelessness outlined in Part I above. 6. PERSONS WHO DO NOT ENJOY THE RIGHTS ATTACHED TO THEIR NATIONALITY Nationality in international law Nationality is a concept of both municipal and international law. As a concept of international law it denotes “the allocation of individuals, termed nationals, to a specific State – the State of nationality – as members of that State, a relationship which confers upon that State under customary international law [certain] rights and duties in relation to other States”, viz. the right to protect its nationals in relation to other States, and the duty to admit its nationals if expelled from another State.114 Additional rights and duties in relation to other States may also exist under international treaty law, spanning from bilateral to regional to international treaties. Individuals themselves also have certain rights and obligations under international law, sometimes in their own right as subjects of international law, at other times indirectly as objects of international law. Again, these rights and obligations may exist under customary international law or be based on treaty law. Certain rights and obligations apply only to nationals, i.e. are attached to a person’s nationality, and may be in relation to the State of nationality or to another State or States – e.g. the State of residence, a belligerent State or a group of States such as the European Union. Other rights are independent of nationality and 113 114 June 1997, Parts 1 and 3; UNHCR, “The State of the World’s Refugees: A Humanitarian Agenda”, 1997, chapter 6. See Part I above regarding UNHCR’s position on the recommendations made in the Final Acts of the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions. P. Weis, “Nationality and Statelessness in International Law”, Sijthoff and Noordhoof, 2nd edition, 1979, p. 59. 32