Atuguba et al. and marriage, death, and property rights. Stateless persons may also encounter travel restrictions, social exclusion, and heightened vulnerability to sexual and physical violence, exploitation, trafficking in persons, forcible displacement, and other abuses (USDS 2017). It is relevant to emphasize that refugees are not always stateless, and stateless persons are not always refugees; neither are stateless persons necessarily foreigners. Stateless persons who have fled their countries to escape persecution on grounds of race, religion, nationality, or membership of a particular social group or political opinion are stateless refugees (UNHCR 2014). In contrast, some stateless persons have lived in the country of their birth throughout their lives and have not been subject to any persecution. International, Regional, and National Legal Frameworks on Statelessness This section of the study examines the international, regional, and national legal and policy frameworks on statelessness. Both regional and national legal frameworks may draw from the international legal framework for addressing statelessness. Consequently, a discussion of the international legal framework precedes that of the regional and national legal frameworks for addressing statelessness. The 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons As discussed, the 1954 UN Convention defines a stateless person as a person not considered a national by any state under the operation of its law.3 A stateless person may never have crossed an international border. Other stateless persons, however, are refugees who fall within the scope of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or are eligible for complementary protection. Article 2 of the 1954 UN Convention imposes duties on stateless persons to the country in which they reside, requiring them to conform to its laws and regulations, and “to measures taken for the maintenance of public order.” Contracting states to the 1954 UN Convention must apply the provisions of the Convention to stateless 3 UN (United Nations General Assembly), Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, September 28, 1954, United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 360, p. 117, https://www.refworld.org/ docid/3ae6b3840.html. 17 persons without discrimination toward race, religion, or country of origin.4 Also, they are to accord stateless persons within their territories freedom to practice their religion and as regards the religious education of their children, at least as favorable as that accorded their nationals. Article 7 of the 1954 UN Convention is captioned “Exemption from Reciprocity.” “Exemption from Reciprocity” means that a person is to be granted rights that ordinarily are accorded on the basis of reciprocity. The justification for this measure is that stateless persons do not enjoy the protection of a foreign country. Consequently, they do not qualify for rights under the rule of reciprocity. Article 8 deals with exceptional measures that may be taken against the person, property, or interests of nationals or former nationals of a foreign state. These are measures that, in times of war, threat of war, severance of diplomatic relations, or other tension between states, are taken by a state to curb the rights of the citizens of the other state. They may involve limitation of the freedom of movement; of the right to a free press, assembly, or association; or of disposing of assets or using certain means of communication (Robinson 1955). The contracting states shall not apply such measures to a stateless person solely on account of his or her having previously possessed the nationality of the foreign state in question. Contracting states that, under their legislation, are prevented from applying the general principle expressed in this article shall, in appropriate cases, grant exemptions in favor of such stateless persons. Article 9 of the 1954 UN Convention grants contracting states the authority to determine for themselves what measures are essential to their national security, whether a person involved is a stateless person, and whether the continuance of such measures is necessary in his or her case in the interest of national security. In the case of stateless persons regularly serving as crewmembers on board a ship flying the flag of a contracting state, that state shall give sympathetic consideration to their establishment on its territory and the issue of travel documents to them or their temporary admission to its territory particularly with a view to facilitating their establishment in another country.5 4 5 Ibid. Ibid.