integrity.” Both of these instances of legal empowerment are indicators of how legal practitioners, advocates, and concerned parties can make a difference in the lives of the stateless and the poor and, more importantly, how the stateless can use the justice system to achieve their own objectives. The Palermo Convention In order to address the gap between human rights fulfillment and the rule of law, especially as it pertains to the stateless, it is also necessary to examine the international legal sphere. This article’s focus on the Southeast Asian geographic region opens a discourse on prevention measures and protection mechanisms against multiple forms of exploitation in international law. Universal protections for many of the critical exploitations faced by the stateless, specifically in countries that have not ratified the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 31, are seldom discussed in relation to the stateless. I contend that this lack of analysis has caused scholars, policymakers and others who work on statelessness to overlook a crucial treaty, the provisions of which could assist in creating an environment of global legal empowerment for the stateless. “the “Palermo” Convention…contains several provisions that could benefit the stateless, if implemented in the domestic sphere” Specifically, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the “Palermo” Convention), which was adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November, 2000, contains several provisions that could benefit the stateless, if implemented in the domestic sphere. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime states that the Convention “is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime.” It is supplemented by three Protocols, which target specific areas and manifestations of organized crime: the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air, and the third protocol, Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in Firearms, which is not included in this analysis. While neither the Convention nor its protocols are specific to the issue of statelessness, in this socio-legal research article, I opine that Member States’ national integration, administration and enforcement of the Palermo Convention, and its Protocols could result in the following: a) Article 1 of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (also referred to as the Trafficking Protocol) http://community.apsanet.org/migrationcitizenship/home 41