B. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 10 14. Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention is to be interpreted in line with the ordinary meaning of the text, read in context and bearing in mind the treaty’s object and purpose.8 As indicated in its preamble and in the Travaux Préparatoires, the object and purpose of the 1954 Convention is to ensure that stateless persons enjoy the widest possible exercise of their human rights.9 The drafters intended to improve the position of stateless persons by regulating their status. That said, as a general rule, possession of a nationality is preferable to recognition and protection as a stateless person. Therefore, in seeking to ensure that all those who fall within the 1954 Convention’s reach benefit from its provisions, it is important to take care that individuals with a nationality are so recognised and not mistakenly identified as stateless. 15. Article 1(1) applies in both migration and non-migration contexts. A stateless person may never have crossed an international border, having lived in the same country for his or her entire life. Some stateless persons, however, may also be refugees or persons eligible for complementary protection.10 Those stateless persons who fall within the scope of the 1951 Convention will be entitled to protection under that instrument, a matter discussed further in Part Three below. 16. An individual is a stateless person from the moment that the conditions in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention are met. Thus, any finding by a State or UNHCR that an individual satisfies the test in Article 1(1) is declaratory, rather than constitutive, in nature.11 8 Please see Article 31(1) of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties which sets out this primary rule of interpretation. Article 31 goes on to set out other factors which are relevant in interpreting treaty provisions whilst supplementary methods of interpretation are listed in Article 32. 9 Please see the second and fourth paragraphs of the Preamble: Considering that the United Nations has, on various occasions, manifested its profound concern for stateless persons and endeavoured to assure stateless persons the widest possible exercise of these fundamental rights and freedoms,… Considering that it is desirable to regulate and improve the status of stateless persons by an international agreement,… (The reference to “fundamental rights and freedoms” is a reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which is mentioned in the first paragraph of the Preamble). 10 For example, they may fall within the European Union’s subsidiary protection regime set out in Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted. Please see, more generally, UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusion No.103 (LVI) of 2005 on complementary forms of protection, http://www.unhcr.org/43576e292.html 11 The implications of this, in terms of the suspensive effect of determination procedures and the treatment of individuals awaiting an outcome of a determination of their statelessness, are addressed in Parts Two and Three below.