nationality that results in statelessness. Second, State’s responsibility occurs for the continuing nature of this violation as a result of the stateless person becoming increasingly vulnerable in the society in which he or she lives. In sum, as Batchelor rightly puts it: ‘If a State has legislation or practice which creates statelessness, it is that State which should resolve the problem’.74 2.3 Arbitrary deprivation of nationality, statelessness and refugees The crucial point for this study is that lack of State protection is linked to the deprivation of nationality, and that the ‘possession of an effective nationality and the ability to exercise the rights inherent to nationality’ help to prevent forced displacement, 75 and in some cases refugeehood. Historically, the problem of statelessness was said to be more comprehensive than the problem of refugees (following World War I and later the entry into force of the denationalization decree of the Nazi regime, 1941), with both categories found to face very similar predicament 76 and both receiving protection and assistance from international refugee organisations.77 In addition, non-refugee stateless persons were thought to be quite few in numbers.78 This has led some academics and drafters of the 1951 Refugee Convention to conclude that formal statelessness was a necessary criterion for refugee status; statelessness per se gave rise to refugee status. 79 However, this interpretation has been contested,80 and a more cautious approach may be called for based on the fact that ‘legal Directions in Statelessness Research and Policy, at 28, referring to the Draft Articles of Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, UN Doc A/56/10,GAOR, 56th Sess, Suppl No 10 (2001), article 14. 74 Batchelor, ‘Statelessness and the Problem of Resolving Nationality Status’ (1998) 10 International Journal of Refugee Law, at 169. 75 UNGA Resolution A/RES/50/152 (21 December 1995), referred to in UNHCR and Asylum Aid, Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom, 2011, p.26. 76 UN Ad Hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless Persons, Ad Hoc Committee on Statelessness and Related Problems, Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons - Memorandum by the Secretary-General, 3 January 1950, E/AC.32/2, Article 2 - available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae68c280.html [accessed 16 January 2014]. See also, Interparliamentary Union and UNHCR, Nationality and Statelessness: A Handbook for Parliamentarians No 22, 2014, pp.9-10. 77 Caroline Sawyer, ‘Stateless in Europe: legal aspects of de jure and de facto statelessness in the European union’, in C. Sawyer and B. K. Blitz (eds.) Statelessness in the European Union – Displaced, Undocumented, Unwanted, CUP 2011, 69-107, at 76. 78 UN Ad Hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless Persons, Ad Hoc Committee on Statelessness and Related Problems, Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons - Memorandum by the Secretary-General, 3 January 1950, E/AC.32/2, Article 2 - available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae68c280.html [accessed 16 January 2014] 79 Andreas Zimmermmann and Claudia Mahler, ‘Article 1 A, para.2’, in A Zimmermmann (ed) The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Its 1967 Protocol – A Commentary, OUP 2011, pp.281-465, at para.675. See also UNHCR, ‘Eligibility: A Guide for the Staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’, March 1962, p.81, para.78, cited in Hugh Massey, ‘UNHCR and De Facto Statelessness’, Legal and Protection Policy Research Series, April 2010, at p.10. 80 Carol A. Batchelor, ‘Statelessness and the Problem of Resolving Nationality Status’, International Journal of Refugee Law 10 (1-2) 1998, pp.156-182, and Hugh Massey, ‘UNHCR and De Facto Statelessness’, Legal and Protection Policy Research Series, April 2010, at p.7. 13