What are the best ways of protecting stateless persons? The most effective way to protect stateless persons is by crafting legislation that makes it impossible to create a situation of statelessness in the first place (see Chapter “Preventing statelessness” for a full discussion of the 1961 Convention and of related measures that States can adopt to reduce or eliminate statelessness). Until the problem of statelessness is eliminated, however, persons recognized as stateless must be protected. Acceding to and implementing the 1954 Convention and adopting implementing legislation will ensure that the rights and obligations of stateless persons are respected. As discussed above, the 1954 Convention does not alter an individual’s nationality, nor does it oblige States to admit non‑refugee stateless persons to their territory. Applying the provisions of the 1954 Convention is not a substitute for granting nationality. Wherever possible, States should facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of stateless persons who are living on their territory through nationality legislation and practice. For large‑scale statelessness situations, rules for conferral of nationality can be changed so that all persons resident in the territory are considered nationals provided that they were born on the territory (or have resided there) before a certain date, or are descended from such persons. Kyrgyzstan adopted comprehensive reforms in 2007, which enabled thousands of stateless people to acquire nationality. Approximately 40,000 persons had lived in Kyrgyzstan without any citizenship for more than a decade after independence, most of them ethnic minorities who had migrated from other parts of the former Soviet Union, and did not automatically acquire Kyrgyz citizenship or citizenship in any other successor state of the former Soviet Union. The 2007 law recognized as citizens all former Soviet citizens who were stateless and had resided in Kyrgyzstan for five years or more. In some exceptional cases, it may not be possible for stateless persons to have their legal status normalized in the country in which they are living. Resettlement in another country may thus be the appropriate solution for these individuals. While States’ resettlement criteria usually do not cover situations of statelessness (resettlement is more often used for refugees), UNHCR’s Executive Committee has called upon States to expand their criteria to include stateless persons. In its Conclusion No. 95 (2003), ExCom: “Encourage[d] (ExCom) States to cooperate with UNHCR on methods to resolve cases of statelessness and to consider the possibility of providing resettlement places where a stateless person’s situation cannot be resolved in the present host country or other country of former habitual residence, and remains precarious…” UNHCR can offer advice and assistance to States on both the integration and the resettlement of stateless persons. 28