Article 26 Freedom of movement Each Contracting State shall accord to stateless persons lawfully in its territory the right to choose their place of residence and to move freely within its territory, subject to any regulations applicable to aliens generally in the same circumstances. 1. This article did not provoke any particular discussion in the Conference. However, the Dutch representative indicated that his Government wishes to reserve the right, for purposes of public order, to assign certain places of residence to stateless persons, while the representative of Turkey stated that the right of stateless persons to choose the place of their residence was contrary to Turkish law and his Government might therefore enter a reservation. The inclusion of this article was adopted by 16 votes to none, with 1 abstention. 179 2. The intent of Article 26 is to assimilate stateless persons to “aliens in general”. This was considered sufficient because free residence and movement are ordinarily granted all aliens but in some cases certain restrictions may exist (for instance, they may need a special licence to move to overcrowded places or to go to restricted areas). As in the case of Article 18, the only requirement is that of being in the country legally, but, as explained in connection with Article 18, it depends on the status of aliens in the state concerned as to what rights stateless persons will enjoy under Article 26. A question which was raised in connection with Article 21 of the Ad Hoc Committee’s draft (which corresponds to this article) related to refugees who entered a country under a labour contract system or group settlement scheme which frequently required the refugees to give a pledge that they would remain in a particular job for a certain period of time. 180 The view was expressed that such requirements do not conflict with freedom of 181 movement. It is to be assumed that the same is applicable to stateless persons who are not refugees. Article 27 Identity papers The Contracting States shall issue identity papers to any stateless person in their territory who does not possess a valid travel document. 1. There was quite a lively discussion in the conference on Article 27. Opinions differed regarding the persons to whom the papers should be issued, what these papers actually were and what their nature was. Some representatives felt that identity papers should not be issued to every state less person but only to those having a residence in the country. Others thought that a distinction should be made between identity papers which could be issued to anyone who happens to be staying in the country and travel papers which should be given to residents only. Still others felt that Article 27 referred to provisional identity papers only, as contrasted with final 182 identity papers. There was no definite decision one way or another, but the Australian and French representatives felt that the article as drafted by the Refugee Conference should not be changed and that it referred to both provisional and final papers. 183 The article was approved by 18 votes to none with two abstentions. 179 SR.8, p. 2. 180 E/AC.32/SR.15, para. 80. Cf. Footnote 143 above. 181 SR.11, p. 16. The provision of Article 26 would also not conflict with the special situation where stateless persons have to be accommodated in special camps or in special areas even if this does not apply to aliens generally 182 The Yugoslav representative thought that it should be left for each country to interpret it according to its own legislation 183 SR.8, pp. 2-4.