122 - 126 PART THREE: STATUS OF STATELESS PERSONS AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL A. INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE STATUS OF STATELESS PERSONS 125. The status set out for stateless persons in the 1954 Convention is modelled on that established for refugees in the 1951 Convention. Comparison of the texts of the two treaties shows that numerous provisions of the 1954 Convention were taken literally, or with minimal changes, from the corresponding provisions of the 1951 Convention. This is largely because of the shared drafting history of the 1951 and 1954 Conventions which both emerged from the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Statelessness and Related Problems that was appointed by the Economic and Social Council in 1949.75 As a result, the Travaux Préparatoires of the 1951 Convention are particularly pertinent in interpreting the 1954 Convention.76 126. As with the 1951 Convention, the rights set out in the 1954 Convention are not limited to individuals who have been recognised as stateless following a determination made by a State or UNHCR. A person is stateless from the moment he or she satisfies the criteria in the 1954 Convention definition, any determination of this fact being merely declaratory. Instead, the rights afforded to an individual under the Convention are linked to the nature of that person’s presence in the State, assessed in terms of degree of attachment to the host country. 75 Resolution 248 (IX) (B) of 8 August 1949. Although the protection of stateless persons was initially intended to be addressed in a Protocol which would apply mutatis mutandis most of the substantive rights set out in the 1951 Convention, it was subsequently decided to adopt a standalone instrument, the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. For additional information on the drafting history, please see the detailed account of the Travaux Préparatoires in UNHCR, Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons: Its History and Interpretation – A Commentary by Nehemiah Robinson, 1955, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4785f03d2.pdf (“Robinson Commentary to the 1954 Convention”). 76 Please see, in particular, paragraphs 132-139 below on the scale of rights accorded to stateless persons under the 1954 Convention depending on their level of attachment to the State party. PART THREE (1) Parallels between the status of refugees and stateless persons 45