6. The 1954 Convention’s Preamble considered it important to: regulate and improve the status of stateless persons; and assure stateless persons the widest possible exercise of […] fundamental rights and freedoms. 1. Rights set out by the 1954 Convention 7. The 1954 Convention contains a list of rights that should form part of the minimum level of protection for stateless persons. These rights are guaranteed to a different extent depending on the legal status of the stateless person and his/her degree of attachment with the Contraction State.5 Some of the rights, according to the Convention, are accessible to any stateless person who is present on the territory of a State Party, such as the right to identity documents (art. 27), the right of access to courts (art. 16), and the right to primary education (art. 22). The enjoyment of other rights is dependent on whether the person has legal residence rights or whether the State Party is his or her place of habitual residence.6 These concern inter alia the right to work (art.17) , the right to social security benefits (art.24) and the right to obtain travel documents (art. 28). In addition, accessing some rights may be made conditional with the same requirements that apply to foreigners generally,7 for example the right to move freely within the territory of the state, (art.26) while other rights need to be provided on the same basis as for nationals, such as the freedom of religion (art.4) and right to primary education (art. 22.(1)). 8. When interpreting the content of the Convention it is important to take into account developments within international law that took place since its adoption, both with regard to statelessness specifically, as well as with regard to human rights more generally. Many of the rights listed in the Convention have been subsequently included in international human rights treaties of general application and formulated in absolute terms, so their enjoyment does not depend on the complex web of factors that feature in the 1954 Convention. Such subsequent treaties may offer stronger wording, better enforcement possibilities, and wider geographical application. Therefore, stateless persons may be more protected under those legal instruments with regard to the enjoyment of some rights. The right to primary education is, for example, guaranteed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child as an absolute right of every child (art. 28). The Convention on the Rights of the Child has stronger implementation monitoring mechanisms than the 1954 Convention,8 and a significantly wider accession rate.9 Since all state parties to the 1954 Convention are also parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, effectively this means that stateless children have a right to primary education in all the countries that have ratified the 1954 Convention. Similarly, the freedom of religion is guaranteed to everyone without discrimination under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art 18), while the 1954 Convention merely requires states to treat stateless persons as favourably as nationals in their exercise of the freedom of religion (art. 4). Another 5 See for a detailed discussing of the system of rights protection of the 1954 Convention, also in light of other relevant human rights conventions, in L. van Waas, Nationality Matters. Statelessness under International Law, (Intersentia 2008), pp. 215-410; See also K. Bianchini, The Implementation of the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons: Procedures and Practice in Selected EU States, PhD thesis defended at the University of York, UK, in April 2015, pp. 70-71. UNHCR interprets the scales of rights in UNHCR Handbook on the Protection of Stateless Persons (Geneva 2014), paras. 129-139. 6 See also UNHCR Handbook on the Protection of Stateless Persons (Geneva 2014), paras 132-139. 7 Such requirement should not be impossible to comply with for stateless persons because of their statelessness, see 1954 Convention relating to Status of Stateless Persons, art. 6. 8 Such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child with its periodic reporting system, in accordance with arts. 43-44 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989. 9 Acceded to by all eligible States except the USA, 196 States. 4