S892 COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW [56:S855 tionals as stateless. U.N. General Assembly resolutions, which may reflect opinio juris, recognize the problems arising from statelessness as “protection risks.” 244 The resolutions, which generally discuss statelessness as a secondary issue to the management of refugees and internallydisplaced persons, express States’ concern over the arbitrary detention of stateless persons. 245 Beyond that, the resolutions encourage States to accede to the Statelessness Conventions, 246 and reminds States that the “prevention and reduction of statelessness are primarily the responsibility of States, in appropriate cooperation with the international community.” 247 No resolution ever seeks to define the substantive content of nationality. 248 D. A Break in Process? International Institutions and Scholars as Law-Makers UNHCR and scholars can serve as a subsidiary means of interpreting international law. 249 Their role is to elucidate the status of the law and the modalities of its application. They are not formally empowered to create binding law. Despite the limited nature of international institutions’ and scholars’ role in developing international law, it seems that since the 1990s, the subsidiary means of interpreting the law have pushed the law beyond what is justified in light of State practice and opinio juris. Though UNHCR and scholars have identified a widespread State practice of collapsing nationality and citizenship into a single legal status, they have not identified any supporting opinio juris suggesting that States equate the two, for the purposes of international human rights law. In the absence of the opinio juris they seek, UNHCR and scholars have substituted the words of States with those of socioloHuman Rights Report for Estonia. 244. See, e.g., G.A. Res. 70/135, ¶ 34 (Dec. 17, 2015); G.A. Res. 69/154, ¶¶ 8–9 (Dec. 18, 2014). 245. See, e.g., G.A. Res. 70/135, supra note 244, ¶ 26; G.A. Res. 69/152, ¶ 23 (Dec. 18, 2014). 246. See, e.g., G.A. Res. 64/127, ¶ 4 (Dec. 18, 2009). 247. G.A. Res. 66/133, ¶ 7 (Dec. 19, 2011); G.A. Res 65/194, ¶ 8 (Dec. 21, 2010); G.A. Res. 61/137, ¶ 7 (Dec. 19, 2006) (the origin of this particular language, which has been repeated in several subsequent resolutions). 248. Discerned through review of all of UNHCR’s curated U.N. General Assembly resolutions bearing on refugees, internally-displaced persons, and stateless persons from Jan. 31, 2017, back to Dec. 13, 1994, before UNHCR’s receipt of the statelessness mandate. 249. ICJ Statute art. 38(1)(d). Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2954729