Suzan El Tahhan Bidoons: A Statelessness Plight in Kuwait ‫مجلة الدراسات القانونية واالقتصادية‬ unexplained delays in making decisions, and there has been a failure to make public any procedures or mechanisms to allow applicants to submit supporting evidence, challenge evidence supplied by the ministry, or appeal ministry decisions. Such circumstances render naturalization less accessible to potential applicants, including stateless persons60 II.A.2. Protection of The 1954 Convention Relating to The Status of Stateless Persons and The 1951 Refugee Convention The 1954 Convention Relating to The Status of Stateless Persons: Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention defines a stateless person as: "For the purpose of this Convention, the term "stateless person" means a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law." According to UNHCR Guidelines on Statelessness, the Convention does not permit reservations to Article 1(1); thus, this definition is binding on all State Parties to the treaty. In addition, the International Law Commission has considered the definition in Article 1(1) as part of customary international law. 61 The Guidelines also provide that, as with the 1951 Convention, “the rights specified in the 1954 Convention are not only for individuals who have been recognized as stateless following a determination made by a State or UNHCR. A person is stateless from the moment he or she satisfies the criteria in the 1954 Convention definition, any finding of this fact being merely declaratory. Instead, the rights afforded to an individual under the Convention are linked to the nature of that 60 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The situation of stateless persons in the Middle East and North Africa, October 2010, P.36, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4cea28072.html [accessed 22 December 2015]. 61 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on Statelessness No. 1: The definition of "Stateless Person" in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 20 February 2012, P.2, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4f4371b82.html [accessed 21 December 2015] 24