Stand-alone unit B Statelessness explained, part 2 (of 2) Summary This unit builds on the materials covered in Unit A, which provided an introduction to the phenomenon of statelessness and an in-depth look at the prevention of statelessness. Here, attention is turned to the reduction of statelessness – the resolution of existing cases – and the protection of stateless persons. In looking at avenues for the reduction of statelessness, students are briefly introduced to the demands placed by international law on a State’s policy of nationality attribution, including through naturalisation, in the specific circumstance of statelessness. Thus, the potential for case-by-case, individual naturalisation of stateless persons as a means of reduction is studied and the relevant provisions of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the European Convention on Nationality are presented, along with relevant statements by UN treaty bodies. Thereafter, the possibility of resolving statelessness through large-scale reduction campaigns is presented. Students are shown how international legal standards relating to the right to a nationality and the avoidance of statelessness can inspire a reduction campaign which 8 A Guide to Teaching on Statelessness could be based on laws adopted specifically to tackle statelessness among a certain population or legislative amendments designed to prevent future statelessness that are applied with retroactive effect. Students take a look at an example of a large-scale reduction campaign and are asked to consider what is involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of such a campaign and what difficulties may arise at each stage that must be taken into account for the campaign to be successful. Moving to the discussion of the protection of stateless persons, students are reminded of a fundamental premise of human rights law – that most rights are to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. The development of human rights law as a move towards de-linking enjoyment of rights from nationality is discussed as is the impact of this development on the role of nationality in the enjoyment of rights. Students are shown how universal and regional human rights standards and machinery can contribute to the enjoyment of rights by stateless persons, but also in which areas stateless persons may miss out on full protection as a result of their lack of a nationality. The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons is introduced as a complementary and supplementary legal regime, alongside human rights law. The current standing, including the number of State parties and recent calls for further accession, to the 1954 Convention is briefly laid out. Through a closer inspection of a number of provisions of the 1954 Convention, students are asked to consider the instrument’s strengths and weaknesses. Attention is thereby paid, in particular, to the effect of offering rights at different “levels of attachment” to the State and at different “standards of treatment”. In addition, the inclusion of certain special rights such as access to travel documents versus the absence of provisions relating, for instance, to entry and residence or supervision of the Convention is discussed. Finally, to bring the units A and B to a close, students look at the efforts that are currently being made to combat statelessness and its detrimental effects by summarising the role of different national, regional and international actors in addressing this issue as identified over the course of these two units.