1.2 The international and regional legal framework The international legal framework relating to statelessness consists of international instruments and regional instruments. At the international level, two conventions deal specifically with statelessness: the aforementioned 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The 1954 Convention is the primary international instrument that aims to regulate and improve the status of stateless persons and to ensure that stateless persons are accorded their fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination. The 1954 Convention entered into force in 1960 and currently has 88 States Parties.16 The 1961 Convention is the leading international instrument that provides rules for the conferral and withdrawal of citizenship to prevent cases of statelessness from arising. By setting out rules to limit the occurrence of statelessness, the Convention gives effect to Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognizes that “everyone has the right to a nationality.” The 1961 Convention entered into force in 1975 and presently has 67 States Parties.17 In June 2014, UNHCR published the Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons (“Handbook”),18 which provides interpretative legal guidance for governments, NGOs, legal practitioners, decision-makers, the judiciary, and others working on statelessness. The Handbook addresses the definition of a stateless person, procedures to determine who is stateless, and the legal status of stateless persons at the national level. UNHCR’s Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4 (“Guidelines”)19 address the prevention of statelessness at birth under the 1961 Convention. Developed on the basis of consultations with international experts and a broad range of stakeholders, the Handbook and the Guidelines will be used in the present report to elucidate the obligations and best practices flowing from the respective Conventions. Other international human rights instruments contain provisions relevant to issues relating to nationality and statelessness. Instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) contain provisions on the right to a nationality, on equal treatment of men and women, and on the prohibition of discrimination. In addition to these instruments, the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees expressly applies to stateless persons who otherwise meet the definition of a refugee, as does the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Refugee Convention”) by implication.20 Thus, a stateless person can meet the definition of a refugee and then benefit from the protection afforded to refugees by the Refugee Convention. 16 As of July 2016. UN Treaty Collection database, available at: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Treaties.aspx?id=5&subid=A&clang=_en. 17 As of July 2016. UN Treaty Collection database, available at: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Treaties.aspx?id=5&subid=A&clang=_en. 18 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, 30 June 2014, (“Handbook”), available at: http: //www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html. 19 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, HCR/GS/12/04, (“Guidelines”), available at: http://refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html. 20 See 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1(A)(2) (“Definition of the term ‘refugee’”), available at: http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, 2016 11