B. UNHCR AND STATELESSNESS 4. UNHCR issues this Handbook pursuant to its mandate responsibilities to address statelessness. UNHCR’s responsibilities were initially limited to stateless persons who were refugees as set out in paragraph 6 (A) (II) of the UNHCR Statute and Article 1 (A) (2) of the 1951 Convention. In this capacity, UNHCR was involved in the drafting of the 1954 Convention. To undertake the functions foreseen by Articles 11 and 20 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (“1961 Convention”) UNHCR’s mandate was expanded to cover persons falling under the terms of that Convention by General Assembly Resolutions 3274 (XXIX) of 1974 and 31/36 of 1976. The Office was entrusted with responsibilities for stateless persons generally by General Assembly Resolution 50/152 of 1995, which endorsed UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusion 78. Subsequently, in Resolution 61/137 of 2006, the General Assembly endorsed Executive Committee Conclusion 106 which sets out four broad areas of responsibility for UNHCR: the identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness and the protection of stateless persons. Extracts from relevant General Assembly resolutions and Executive Committee Conclusions are found in Annexes IV and V, respectively. C. THE SCOPE OF THE HANDBOOK 4 5. The 1954 Convention’s provisions fall into three categories: those establishing the definition of a “stateless person”; those relating to their rights and obligations; and final provisions governing matters such as accession to the Convention and cooperation of States Parties with UNHCR. This Handbook sets out guidance on provisions falling within the first two of these categories. 6. This Handbook is intended to assist governments, policy makers, administrative adjudicators, the judiciary, NGOs, legal practitioners, UNHCR staff and other actors with interpreting and applying the 1954 Convention so as to facilitate the identification and proper treatment of its beneficiaries. In addition, this Handbook will be relevant in a range of other circumstances, such as the interpretation of other international instruments that refer to, but do not define, “stateless persons”, “statelessness”, or related terms. In this respect, it is noted that the 1954 Convention has not yet attracted the same level of ratifications/accessions as the 1951 Convention and other human rights treaties. Hence, there is limited State practice, including jurisprudence of national courts, on the application of the 1954 Convention, particularly regarding the interpretation of Article 1(1). The guidance in this Handbook nevertheless considers existing practice of States party to the 1954 Convention and results from a series of expert consultations held by UNHCR.