Article 17 provides in its entirety: Wage-earning employment 1. The Contracting States shall accord to stateless persons lawfully staying in their territory treatment as favourable as possible and, in any event, not less favourable than that accorded to aliens generally in the same circumstances,167 as regards the right to engage in wage-earning employment. 2. The Contracting States shall give sympathetic consideration to assimilating the rights of all stateless persons with regard to wage-earning employment to those of nationals, and in particular of those stateless persons who have entered their territory pursuant to programmes of labour recruitment or under immigration schemes. Although the Convention does not define the term “wage-earning employment,” it should be interpreted in the broadest sense of the term.168 International human rights law also contains provisions regarding the right to work, in particular Article 6(1) of the ICESCR which provides for “the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts.” The rights in the ICESCR and ICCPR apply to everyone, including non-nationals such as refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons and migrant workers, regardless of legal status and documentation,169 though some distinctions against non-citizens or discrimination based on nationality would be permissible if the discrimination is based upon objective and reasonable justifications.170 The right to work in Sweden is based on a work permit. However, several exceptions exist to this general rule. For example, a permanent residence permit always includes the right to work, regardless of the grounds on which the permit is granted.171 In general, permanent residence permits are issued to persons granted international protection172 and generally in situations where residence is considered as continuous in nature, i.e. where there are no special reasons for issuing a temporary residence permit. There are no special provisions made for stateless persons with regard to their right to work, and there are no indications that stateless persons with residence permits in Sweden face more obstacles than other foreigners in accessing work in Sweden. 167 Article 6, the term “in the same circumstances” provides: For the purpose of this Convention, the term “in the same circumstances” implies that any requirements (including requirements as to length and conditions of sojourn or residence) which the particular individual would have to fulfil for the enjoyment of the right in question, if he were not a stateless person, must be fulfilled by him, with the exception of requirements which by their nature a stateless person is incapable of fulfilling. 168 Nehemiah Robinson, Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, Its History and Interpretation, A Commentary, World Jewish Congress, 1955 (“Robinson Commentary to the 1954 Convention”), p. 62. 169 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General comment No. 20: Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (art. 2, para. 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), 2 July 2009, E/C.12/ GC/20, at para. 30, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4a60961f2.html. 170 See UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), CCPR General Comment No. 18: Non-discrimination, 10 November 1989, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fa8.html, para. 13. See also Executive Summary and para. 23 of UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, rights of non-citizens; Final report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. David Weissbrodt, submitted in accordance with Sub-Commission decision 2000/103, Commission resolution 2000/104 and Economic and Social Council decision 2000/283, Addendum, Examples of practices in regard to non-citizens, 26 May 2003, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23/Add.3, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f461536c.html. 171 In accordance with Chapter 2, Section 8 of the Aliens Act. 172 Note, however, that this general practice was temporarily changed in July 2016, when the Law on temporary restrictions regarding the possibility of obtaining a residence permit in Sweden (Lag om tillfälliga begränsningar av möjligheten att få uppehållstillstånd i Sverige (2016: 752)) entered into force, available at: https://goo.gl/tsZ4GV. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, 2016 51