On the other hand, if we were to include asylum seekers into this category, the number of applicants has risen sharply in the few years leading up to 2016.148 With the rise in applications, the number of pending cases (i.e., the number of individuals who have the status of applicants) has become more than 10,000.149 Therefore, if we were to include asylum seekers, the number of those who would fall under Category C would be sharply on the rise. Given the instability of the global situation, one cannot deny the possibility that the number of persons who come to Japan for asylum will continue to increase further for the time being. 6. Solutions for Category C (1) Prevention First, for recognized refugees regardless of whether or not they have a nationality, naturalization procedures should be put in place and implemented in accordance with Article 34 of the 1951 Refugee Convention (“The Contracting States shall as far as possible facilitate the… naturalization of refugees”). If the easy and rapid acquisition of Japanese nationality can be secured for the first-generation refugees, then the prevention of statelessness for the subsequent generations born in Japan can be achieved as well. In cases where refugee parents are still stateless at the time of the birth of their children in Japan, the children should acquire Japanese nationality by the application of Article 2(iii) of the Nationality Act. Furthermore, similar to Category A [Conflict of laws], in response to cases that cannot be covered by Article 2(iii), it is possible to create a new provision, i.e., Article 2(iv) which provides Japanese nationality when a person, for example, is “born in Japan who does not acquire the nationality of his or her father or mother’s country of nationality.”150 (In this regard, see also Category G [Unknown or stateless parents].) 148 The number of applications for refugee status (in the first instance) is sharply on the rise, with 384 in 2005, 954 in 2006, 816 in 2007, 1,599 in 2008, 1,388 in 2009, 1,202 in 2010, 1,867 in 2011, 2,545 in 2012, 3,260 in 2013, 5,000 in 2014, 7,586 in 2015, and 10,901 in 2016. (See supra note 146.) 149 As of the end of June 2015, the number of pending applications for refugee status was 4,590 in the first instance and 6,240 on appeal, the total being 10,830 (Kyodo Tsushin, 19 February 2016, “Nanmin Shinsa Machi, Ichimannin Koe Saitani Shinseiga Kyuuzou, 15 Nen 6 Gatsu Matsu [Over 10,000 Waiting for Refugee Status Determination, Highest Number with Sharp Increase in Applications, End June 2015]”). 150 In addition, as recommended by the UNHCR Guidelines on Statelessness No.4, from the perspective of preventing statelessness, it would be effective to introduce legislation to enable children born in Japan from refugee parents to acquire Japanese nationality, depending on the concerned individuals’ choices, even in cases where they should have normally acquired the parents’ nationality under the text of the applicable law, in light of the fact that they would normally be unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of the parents’ country and would presumably become long-term residents in Japan in the future. See UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No.4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (21 December 2012), II f) “Special Position of Refugee Children”, at 68