Statelessness and Belonging: A Problem of Definition Two international conventions constitute the primary framework for definitions of and responses to statelessness: the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954) and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961).2 In international legal instruments, the term “stateless” refers to “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law” (UNHCR 2014b, 9). States are the final arbiters of whether an individual or a group under any definition is statelessness (Harvey 2010, 257).3 Article I of the 1954 convention defines a stateless person as one “who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.” Among other obligations under that convention, contracting states must treat stateless persons the same as lawful aliens in that country, including granting access to wage-earning employment, housing, public education, and public relief. Upon request, states are also obligated to issue travel and identity documents to stateless persons within their territory. Further, stateless persons are not to be expelled except on “grounds of national security or public order.” The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961) attempted to strengthen international intervention by specifying the circumstances in which states should award legal status to stateless persons, including citizenship to persons born within their borders who would otherwise be stateless. The 1961 convention favors jus soli by stipulating that an important measure to avoid statelessness at birth is to provide nationality to children born in the territory who would otherwise be stateless. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is the designated organization to investigate the 3 Electroniccopy copyavailable available at: at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3150558 Electronic https://ssrn.com/abstract=3150558