10 Actions to End Statelessness Action 9: ACCEDE TO THE UN STATELESSNESS CONVENTIONS STARTING POINT MILESTONES • • 61 States are party to the 1961 Convention. By 2017: • • GOAL BY 2024 83 States are party to the 1954 Convention. • • By 2020: 100 States are party to the 1954 Convention. 82 States are party to the 1961 Convention. • 120 States are party to the 1954 Convention. 103 States are party to the 1961 Convention. 140 States are party to the 1954 Convention. 130 States are party to the 1961 Convention. CONTEXT The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness are key international treaties designed to ensure that every person has a nationality and that stateless people enjoy a basic set of human rights. The Statelessness Conventions do not stand alone, but complement a much broader range of international legal standards, in particular those contained in human rights treaties. The 1954 Convention establishes minimum standards of treatment for stateless people in respect of a number of rights. These include, but are not limited to, the right to education, employment and housing. Importantly, the 1954 Convention also guarantees stateless people a right to identity and travel documents and to administrative assistance. The 1961 Convention establishes an international framework to ensure 28 • UNHCR > the right of every person to a nationality. It requires that States establish safeguards in their nationality laws to prevent statelessness at birth and later in life. Until 1995, no international agency actively promoted the two Statelessness Conventions. As a result, despite their importance, they have attracted far fewer States parties than many other treaties relating to human rights. Some States have been reticent to accede because of misconceptions about the nature of the obligations imposed by the Statelessness Conventions, such as the belief that they impose onerous reporting requirements (in fact, there are no reporting requirements under the 1961 Convention and minimal requirements under the 1954 Convention). G LO B A L AC T I O N P L A N TO E N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S : 2 0 1 4 – 2 0 2 4