The agency argued this would have a series of beneficial knock-on effects for everyone concerned — nations themselves and the stateless — by: • strengthening global legal frameworks • improving overall social and economic tasked with addressing the causes and consequences of statelessness; development in member states; • promoting the rule of law and more security and preventing future forced displacement; efficient regulation of international migration and resolving conflict of law issues. States and other international actors should also recognize that the displacement of stateless people may act as an early warning of larger refugee exoduses and, unless statelessness issues are resolved, solutions to refugee problems may also be severely impaired. THE ROLE OF UNHCR The UN General Assembly gave UNHCR a global mandate to act as the guardian of the world’s stateless people. Its involvement is usually triggered when there are indications that an individual or population could become stateless, perhaps through the creation of onerous new legislation, stricter requirements for proof of nationality or government statements singling out particular groups. More generally, UNHCR works to promote and strengthen the relevant international legal instruments and promote accession to them. The agency, working closely with the UN and other interested organizations, is directly involved in such areas as prevention, protection, the reduction of the number of stateless people and the analysis of issues. To understand more fully the circumstances leading to statelessness and the magnitude of the problem, UNHCR employs the use of mapping, desk reviews, participatory assessments, academic studies, national censuses, population profiles, surveys and other statistics. To prevent statelessness, UNHCR encourages regular registration and the issuance of documentation by states; the examination of nationality laws; the adoption and implementation of appropriate legal safeguards; and legal aid programmes. 6 THE WORLD’S STATELESS PEOPLE • 2011 U N H C R / G . C O N STA N T I N E / B G D • 2 0 0 6 • contributing to international peace and