In 1949, ECOSOC considered the study and created an ad hoc Committee entrusted with considering the “desirability of preparing a revised and consolidated convention relating to the international status of refugees and stateless persons and [...] draft[ing] the text of such a convention.”114 The Committee’s reports115 included drafts of a convention on refugees and a protocol on stateless persons; however, the UN Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons, which met from 2 to 25 July 1951, decided, “[w]ith respect to the draft Protocol relating to the Status of Stateless Persons,” “not to take a decision on the subject at the present Conference and refers the draft Protocol back to the appropriate organs of the United Nations for further study,”116 given the disagreement on definitions of stateless persons, displaced persons and refugees, which made it difficult to incorporate all categories in a single treaty. The signing of the Refugee Convention in 1951 created a scenario that constrained and obliged the Committee on Statelessness and Related Problems to develop a separate treaty for stateless persons – ultimately, the 1954 Stateless Persons Convention– consistent with the definition of refugees present in the 1951 Convention, which also covered refugees who were stateless. The 1951 Refugee Convention, as well as the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1967 Refugee Protocol), have been widely endorsed by states around the world. The 1951 Refugee Convention established important minimum standards for protection in states Parties to the Convention, which may be extended by higher standards in regional instruments or national regulations and practice. UNHCR holds a supervisory responsibility over the Refugee Convention and Protocol, both under its Statute and under the 1951 Convention. As of 20 May 2014, 145 States were Party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, 146 to the 1967 Protocol and 148 to one or both instruments.117 Although the 1954 Stateless Persons Convention is significant in terms of the rights it affords to stateless persons, unfortunately its reach is limited in several respects. First, it has been ratified by few states (80 as of 5 May 2014, including only three Arab states – Algeria, Libya and Tunisia).118 Second, many states that have acceded to the Convention have not established any procedure for examining an applicant’s claim of statelessness (see the country profiles in Chapter Three of this 114 UN Economic and Social Council, “Resolution 248 B (IX) of 8 August 1949,” August 8, 1949, E/ RES/248(IX), http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/RES/248(IX), item (a). 115 UN Economic and Social Council, “Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless Persons, Lake Success, New York, 16 January to 16 February 1950,” February 16, 1950, E/1618, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/1618; UN Economic and Social Council, “Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless Persons, Second Session, 14 August to 25 August 1950,” August 25, 1950, E/1850, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc. asp?symbol=E/1850. 116 UN Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons, “Final Act and Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees” (UN Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons, July 25, 1951), para. III, UN Doc. A/CONF.2/108/Rev.1, http:// www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?docid=40a8a7394. 117 UNTC, “Status of Treaties: Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees,” accessed July 15, 2014, https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsII.aspx?&src=UNTSONLINE&mtdsg_no=V~2&chapter=5 &Temp=mtdsg2&lang=en; UNTC, “Status of Treaties: Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees,” accessed July 15, 2014, https://treaties.un.org/pages/ShowMTDSGDetails.aspx?src=UNTSONLINE &tabid=2&mtdsg_no=V-5&chapter=5&lang=en#Participants. 118 UNTC, “Status of Treaties: Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons,” accessed July 15, 2014, https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsII.aspx?&src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V~3&chapte r=5&Temp=mtdsg2&lang=en. The Palestinian Refugee Problem: An Overview 19