and marginalize racial, religious or ethnic minorities have resulted in statelessness in every region of the world. In the past 20 years, growing numbers of persons have been deprived of their nationality or have not been able to acquire citizenship. If these situations are allowed to continue, the deepening sense of disenfranchisement among the affected populations can eventually lead to displacement and even conflict. This handbook aims to provide parliamentarians with a broad description of the international principles regulating nationality and statelessness. States hold a broad discretion with which to define their initial body of citizens and the conditions for acquiring, losing, and retaining citizenship. However, human rights principles developed throughout the 20th century limit this discretion if it results in statelessness and/or if it is applied in a discriminatory manner. As States work together to address the problems associated with statelessness, there are still millions of individuals around the world who have no nationality. This handbook discusses the rights and obligations of stateless persons as protected under international law, particularly by the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The handbook also highlights the main causes of statelessness and considers how governments can ensure that the application of their nationality legislation does not inadvertently result in statelessness. UNHCR is the UN agency tasked with helping to reduce the incidence of statelessness and assisting those individuals who are stateless in securing a nationality. This handbook describes what UNHCR does to fulfill this role. It also suggests practical steps parliamentarians can take to help to reduce the incidence of statelessness, from reviewing and, if necessary, revising their country’s citizenship laws, to encouraging their governments to accede to international treaties on statelessness, to raising public awareness about the problems associated with statelessness. This handbook also offers positive examples of how protracted situations of statelessness have been resolved, thanks to the political will of the States concerned, the efforts of civil society, and the assistance provided by the international community. These “good practices” illustrate that when governments, society, and the international community work together, stateless individuals can finally enjoy “the right to a nationality”. 6 “To be stripped of citizenship is to be stripped of worldliness; it is like returning to a wilderness as cavemen or savages… A man who is nothing but a man has lost the very qualities which make it possible for other people to treat him as a fellow man… they could live and die without leaving any trace, without having contributed anything to the common world.” Hannah Arendt, The origins of totalitarianism