38.2 (7) TEMPROSA.DOCX38.2 (7) TEMPROSA.DOCX (DO NOT DELETE) 288 BERKELEY JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 1/16/2021 12:59 PM [Vol. 38:2 other steps were enumerated earlier. An alternative way is for individual States to directly contest the definition by adopting definitions in their respective domestic laws that have a protection-oriented focus. 320 I then identify some elements of a protection-oriented approach that could inform an agenda for reforming the definition and creating better statelessness determinations either by States collectively, as parties to the 1954 Statelessness Convention, or as States in their individual capacities in a customary lawmaking effort. I present these as options legally available to States, and build a framework that avoids one final, finite definition of statelessness. A one-size-fits-all approach would further lead to dogmatism and finality that cannot address changed and changing protection issues. Within the critical rhetoric tradition, even if change occurs, that change is subject to reflection and critique for further improvement. 321 The solution suggested is not the only possible approach, but it responds to the widely-accepted deficits of the current definition. A. Inadequacy of Existing Attempts to Change the Statelessness Definition In recent years, States and the international community have expressed heightened interest in addressing the issue of statelessness. UN bodies, such as the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Human Rights Council, and even the Security Council, regard statelessness as an issue of international and human security, reflecting a change in the use of the concept. Before 2000, UN bodies discussed statelessness in only 87 published documents, but from 2001 to 2013, statelessness appeared in more than 2,950 documents. 322 In 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the UN to address statelessness from multiple perspectives, outlining guiding principles and policy frameworks for action. 323 Ban described identifying stateless persons as a prerequisite for any response strategy. 324 In 2014, the UNHCR, which is the UN body with the "statutory function of providing international protection [to stateless persons] and of seeking preventive action," 325 launched the #iBelong Campaign with the 320. For instance, Mexico's laws provide for equal treatment of persons who have a nationality that is not effective. Mexico's Ley de Migracion, art. 3(IV), (last visited May 6, 2019). 321. LITTLEJOHN, FOSS & OETZEL, supra note 154, at 452–53. 322. Id. 323. See UNITED NATIONS, Guidance Note, supra note 88, at 6, 9; see also UNHCR, Conclusion on Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons No. 106 (LVII) (2006), https://www.unhcr.org/excom/exconc/453497302/conclusion-identification-prevention-reduction-statelessness-protection.html (last visited Apr. 15, 2019); see also UNHCR, UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness: A Strategy Note (2010), https://www.unhcr.org/protection/statelessness/4b960ae99/unhcr-action-address-statelessness-strategy-note.html (last visited Apr. 15, 2019). 324. UNITED NATIONS, Guidance Note, supra note 88, at 6, 9. 325. G.A. Res. 50/152, ¶ 14, U.N. Doc. A/RES/50/152 (Feb. 9, 1996). UNHCR's mandates are usually traced to G.A. Res. 3274 (XXIV) (Dec. 10, 1974) and G.A. Res. 31/36 (Nov. 30, 1976). States assigned this role to UNHCR pursuant to Article 11 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of