International obligations of Japan 14. Japan has ratified nearly all of the core international human rights treaties, except for the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. 15. Stateless persons benefit from the general application of international human rights standards found in these core treaties, including non-discrimination, adequate standard of living and equality before the law.6 16. The specific right to a nationality and/or protection of stateless persons is further reinforced by a variety of these instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, Article 24), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (Article 9), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, Article 7) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 18) to which Japan is a Party. 17. Japan has not acceded to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention) or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Convention), which oblige States Parties to take certain measures to protect persons who are stateless or at risk of statelessness. The International Law Commission has found that the definition of a stateless person pursuant to the 1954 Convention is customary international law.7 Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention defines a stateless person as someone ‘not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law’. 18. Japan has additional international obligations to protect the liberty and security of all persons and to protect against arbitrary and unlawful detention. This obligation derives from the ICCPR (Article 9) which protect the right to liberty and security of the person and freedom from arbitrary detention. Importantly, Article 26 of the 1954 Convention additionally requires States to permit stateless persons “lawfully in” their territory to choose their place of residence and move freely within the State.8 6 There are a few exceptions under international human rights in which stateless persons are restricted. These include the right to vote or to be elected to political office. 7 International Law Commission, Articles on Diplomatic Protection with commentaries, 2006, page 49 http://www.refworld.org/docid/525e7929d.html . 8 In line with UNHCR observations the drafting history of the 1954 Convention affirms that persons who have applied to remain in a country based on their statelessness are ‘lawfully in’ that country. UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons (30 June 2014, ‘UNHCR Statelessness Handbook’), para 135. Available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html. 7