This right is founded on the existence of a relevant link between an individual and a State. The International Court of Justice explained nationality and the links that underlie it in the following terms in 1955, in the Nottebohm Case: “According to the practice of States, to arbitral and judicial decisions and to the opinion of writers, nationality is a legal bond having as its basis a social fact of attachment, a genuine connection of existence, interest and sentiments, together with the existence of reciprocal rights and duties.” A relevant link, giving rise to a right to a nationality, is made manifest by birth, residency and/or descent and is now reflected in the provisions of most States’ nationality legislation as well as in recent international instruments relating to nationality, such as the 1997 European Convention on Nationality (ECN). Nationality is also defined by the Inter‑American Court of Human Rights as: “[t]he political and legal bond that links a person to a given State and binds him to it with ties of loyalty and fidelity, entitling him to diplomatic protection from that State”. (Castillo‑Petruzzi et al. v. Peru, Judgment of May 1999, IACHR [ser.C] No. 52 1999.) How are the rights of refugees and stateless persons protected? Although Article 15 of the UDHR asserts that every person has the right to a nationality, it does not prescribe the specific nationality to which a person is entitled. To ensure that individuals are not deprived of a minimum set of rights associated with nationality, the international community developed two main treaties: the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention) and the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention). Is there any link between the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the issue of statelessness? In the aftermath of the Second World War, one of the most pressing issues for the Member States of the newly created United Nations was how to address the needs of the millions of individuals whom the war had left as refugees or who had been rendered stateless. A 1949 resolution of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) led to the appointment of an Ad Hoc Committee whose task was to consider formulating a convention on the status of refugees and stateless persons and to consider proposals for eliminating statelessness. In the end, Committee members drafted a convention on the status of refugees and a protocol to the proposed convention that focused on stateless persons. The Committee did not fully address the elimination of statelessness largely because it was assumed that the newly formed International Law Commission (ILC) would focus on that issue. Historically, refugees and stateless persons both received protection and assistance from the international refugee organizations that preceded UNHCR. The draft Protocol on statelessness was intended to reflect this link between refugees and stateless persons. But the urgent needs of refugees and the impending dissolution of the International Refugee 9