Forthcoming in the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (27) To expel an alien according to the draft articles, the state must observe certain procedural guarantees, including the right of expellees to receive notice of the decision that determined their expulsion, to challenge that decision before a competent authority, to access effective remedies, to have legal representation, and to be assisted by an interpreter if so required. These rights, however, can be set aside if the individual in question has been unlawfully present in the country for a brief duration (i.e., less than six months according to the commentaries120). Moreover, if detained for the purposes of expulsion, aliens must be separated from ordinary prisoners; detention cannot be arbitrary, punitive, or for an indeterminate period. 121 Another important guarantee recognized in the draft articles is the right to seek consular assistance and protection, which has proven to be an essential protection for individuals targeted with expulsion as noted by the ICJ in the Diallo (Republic of Guinea v DRC) case.122 This is a restatement of Art. 36 of the VCCR as interpreted by the ICJ in the LaGrand (Germany v United States)123 and Avena (Mexico v United States) 124 cases. The Commission also incorporated the wording of Art. 32 (the prohibition of expulsion of refugees lawfully staying in a country) and Art. 33 (the duty of non-refoulement, including its exceptions) of the Refugee Convention, without major changes. There is also a specific provision on the expulsion of stateless persons, which makes a renvoi to Article 31 of the 1954 Statelessness Convention. 125 Additionally, states are prohibited from depriving an individual of nationality for the sole purpose of expulsion. Left unsaid in the draft articles is whether such a provision would also apply to nationals outside the state of nationality at the moment of the deprivation. Collective and constructed (or disguised) expulsions are equally interdicted, and UN ILC, ‘Draft Articles on the Expulsion of Aliens’, at 45. Ibid., at Art. 19(1)(a). 122 Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v Democratic Republic of the Congo) (Merits) [2010] ICJ Rep. 639, at para. 95. 123 Avena and other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v United States of America) (Judgment) [2004] ICJ Rep. 12, at paras 49–114. 124 LaGrand (Germany v United States of America) (Judgment) [2001] ICJ. Rep. 466, at paras 64–91. 125 UN ILC, ‘Draft Articles on the Expulsion of Aliens’, at 12–13. 120 121 31 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4816199