4. Prevention of statelessness in international law International law’s approach to statelessness is twofold. It focuses on the protection of stateless persons but also emphasizes the prevention and reduction of statelessness. The international regime for the protection of non-refugee stateless persons consists of the 1954 Convention114, which provides for formal status and rights for stateless persons who are not refugees. The number of States Parties to the 1954 Convention is still relatively low,115 and not all States Parties have implemented the Convention. In addition, stateless persons should enjoy rights outlined under international human rights law,116 although such rights may be difficult to realize in practice. In a situation where statelessness has not yet arisen, however, another principle prevails. Statelessness is recognized as an anomaly under international law which should be prevented. The international regime recognizes the principle of prevention of statelessness as a corollary to the right to a nationality.117 Both have been outlined in a number of universal and regional instruments.118 The prevention of statelessness has also been addressed in indigenous peoples’, Minority Rights Group International, April 2008. Questions of the right to selfdetermination could arise in this context. See also ‘Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the relationship between climate change and human rights: Summary’, submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to its resolution 7/23 of 28 March 2009, UN Doc. A/HRC/10/61, 15 January 2009, available online at: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G09/103/44/PDF/G0910344.pdf?OpenElement (last accessed 29 May 2011). 114 Note that stateless persons who are refugees are to be treated as such under international refugee law and that the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (note 100 above) includes stateless refugees in its scope. However, populations of low-lying island States would normally not fall under the international refugee regime. 115 At the time of writing, there were 65 States Parties to the 1954 Convention. 116 See also note 103 above. 117 See commentary to Art. 4 of the Draft Articles on Nationality of Natural Persons in Relation to the Succession of States, note 25 above; P. Weis, ‘The United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961’, (1962) 11 ICLQ 1078. 118 Art. 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948) UNGA Res 217A (III) (‘UDHR’) provides that ‘[e]veryone has a right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality’. The right to a nationality is reiterated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 Dec 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171 (‘ICCPR’), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990) 1577 UNTS 3 (‘CRC’), as well as in the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, UNGA Res 45/158 of 18 December 1990 (‘Migrant Workers Convention’), although formulations vary. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (adopted 18 December 1979, entered into force 3 September 1981) UNGA Res 34/180, 34 UN GAOR Supp. (No 46) 193, UN Doc A/34/46 (‘CEDAW’) the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (adopted 21 December 1965, entered into force 4 January 1969) 660 UNTS 195 (‘CERD’), the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, UNGA Res 1040 (XI) of 29 January 1957, entered into force 11 August 1958, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (adopted 13 December 2006) UNGA Res. 61/106 (‘CRPD’) also contain provisions on the right to nationality. At the regional level, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (adopted 11 July 1990, entered into force 29 November 1999), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, as adopted by the Meeting of Ministers, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 28 March 2003, and the Assembly of the African Union at the second summit of the African Union in Maputo, Mozambique, 21 July 2003, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam, June 2005, OIC/9IGGE/HRI/2004/Rep.Final, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, O.A.S. Res. XXX, adopted by the Ninth International Conference of American States, 1948, the Organization of American States, American Convention on Human Rights, "Pact of San Jose", Costa Rica, 22 November 1969, the Arab Charter 16