Reviewed Article persons that are denied their fundamental human rights? These questions are what this paper seeks to address. 2. The Concept of Statelessness As mentioned earlier, statelessness refers to the condition were an individual who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law 14. This definition has attained the status of customary international law, which means that it applies in all jurisdictions, regardless of whether or not a State is party to the 1954 Convention 15. Those at risk of statelessness include; orphans and foundlings, children of immigrant parents (especially illegal immigrants), persons whose birth was not declared, nomadic groups, border populations, migrants etc. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that 16 ‘“Everyone has the right to a nationality” and “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality, nor denied the right to change their nationality.” 17 While human rights, including the rights to a nationality, are in principle universal and inherent, however, in practice a large range of fundamental human rights are denied to stateless people: they are often unable to obtain identity documents; they may be detained for reasons linked to their Art 1 of the 1954 Convention on the Status of Statelessness. A paper presented by UNHCR at Statelessness Training on the 22-23rd May, 2019, Abuja 16 UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948, 217 A (III), available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3712c.html [accessed 2 July 2019] 17 Article 15, ibid 14 15 9