1-3 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION A. BACKGROUND TO THE 1954 CONVENTION 1. Statelessness arises in a variety of contexts. It occurs in migratory situations, for example, among some expatriates who lose or are deprived of their nationality without having acquired the nationality of a country of habitual residence. Most stateless persons, however, have never crossed borders and find themselves in their “own country”.1 Their predicament exists in situ, that is in the country of their long-term residence, in many cases the country of their birth. For these individuals, statelessness is often the result of problems in the framing and implementation of nationality laws. 2. In the aftermath of the Second World War the need for international action to protect stateless persons and refugees came to the fore. As such, the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (“1954 Convention”) shares the same origins as the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (“1951 Convention”). It was initially conceived as a draft protocol to the refugee treaty. However, when the 1951 Convention was adopted, the protocol was left in draft form and referred to a separate negotiating conference where it was transformed into a self-standing treaty concerning stateless persons. The text of the 1954 Convention and a List of States Parties can be found in Annexes I and III, respectively. 3. The 1954 Convention remains the only international treaty aimed specifically at regulating the standards of treatment for stateless persons.2 The Convention, therefore, is of critical importance in ensuring the protection of this vulnerable group. 1 The phrase “own country” is taken from Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and used in line with its interpretation by the UN Human Rights Committee. 2 The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness is concerned with avoiding statelessness primarily through safeguards in nationality laws, thereby reducing the phenomenon over time. The 1930 Special Protocol concerning Statelessness, which came into force in 2004, does not address standards of treatment but is concerned with specific obligations of the previous State of nationality. This Protocol has very few States Parties. 3