or repeated periods because they have no identity documents or right to stay in the country they are in. Consequently, stateless persons often face destitution and many stateless populations belong to the most marginalized and vulnerable groups worldwide. Often, stateless persons are detained for periods of time, either because they cannot identify themselves or because they are considered to be illegal aliens, yet there is no country to which they can be returned. Due to the difficulty of obtaining employment legally, many stateless persons seek other means of acquiring an income, including black-market labor. Often, stateless persons do not enjoy basic human rights protection. Even though the enjoyment of fundamental human rights is not formally dependent on citizenship status, many states extend human rights protection to their nationals only. As such, many stateless persons encounter social and economic hardship. Generally socially and economically excluded, stateless persons are vulnerable to abuse and at risk of psychological problems, such as feelings of hopelessness and depression. 1.3 The international and regional legal framework The international legal framework relating to statelessness consists of international instruments and regional instruments. At the international level, two conventions deal specifically with statelessness: the aforementioned 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The 1954 Convention guarantees to persons who are stateless the enjoyment of a minimum set of rights, while the 1961 Convention provides a set of safeguards for states to include in their nationality laws to ensure that statelessness be avoided. The 1954 Convention entered into force in 1960 and has 86 State Parties.13 The 1961 Convention entered into force in 1975 and has 63 State Parties at the time of publication.14 In June 2014, UNHCR published the Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, which provides interpretative legal guidance for governments, NGOs, legal practitioners, decision-makers, the judiciary, and others working on statelessness. The Handbook addresses the definition of a stateless person, procedures to determine who is stateless, and the legal status of stateless persons at the national level. UNHCR’s Guidelines on Statelessness No. 415 address the prevention of statelessness at birth under the 1961 Convention. Developed on the basis of consultations with international experts and a broad range of stakeholders, the Handbook and the Guidelines will be used in the present report to elaborate upon the obligations under the Conventions. Other international human rights instruments contain provisions relevant to issues relating to nationality and statelessness. Instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) contain provisions on the right to a nationality, on equal treatment of men and women, and on the prohibition of discrimination. 13 UN Treaty Collection database, available at: https://goo.gl/5w3hiK. 14 UN Treaty Collection database, available at: https://goo.gl/ufiVL2. 15 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (“UNHCR Guidelines No. 4”), 21 December 2012, HCR/GS/12/04, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html [accessed 6 October 2015] UNHCR STOCKHOLM, OCTOBER 2015 11