127 - 135 • treatment which is to be afforded to stateless persons irrespective of the treatment afforded to citizens or other aliens; • the same treatment as nationals; • treatment as favourable as possible and, in any event, not less favourable than that accorded to aliens generally in the same circumstances; and • the same treatment accorded to aliens generally. 131. States have discretion to facilitate greater parity between the status of stateless persons and that of nationals and indeed may also have an obligation to do so under international human rights treaties. The responsibility placed on States to respect, protect and fulfil 1954 Convention rights is balanced by the obligation in Article 2 of the same treaty that stateless persons abide by the laws of the country in which they find themselves. 132. The rights provided for in the 1954 Convention are extended to stateless persons based on their degree of attachment to the State. Some provisions are applicable to any individual who satisfies the definition of “stateless person” in the 1954 Convention and are either subject to the jurisdiction of a State party or present in its territory. Other rights, however, are conferred on stateless persons, conditional upon whether an individual is “lawfully in”, “lawfully staying in” or “habitually resident” in the territory of a State party. States may thus grant individuals determined to be stateless more comprehensive rights than those guaranteed to individuals awaiting a determination. Nevertheless, the latter are entitled to many of the 1954 Convention rights. This is similar to the treatment of asylum-seekers under the 1951 Convention. 133. Those rights in the 1954 Convention which are triggered when an individual is subject to the jurisdiction of a State party include personal status (Article 12), property (Article 13), access to courts (Article 16(1)), rationing (Article 20), public education (Article 22), administrative assistance (Article 25) and facilitated naturalization (Article 32). Additional rights that accrue to individuals when they are physically present in a State party’s territory are freedom of religion (Article 4) and the right to identity papers (Article 27). 134. The 1954 Convention foresees that stateless persons who are “lawfully in” a State party (in French “se trouvant régulièrement”), are entitled to an additional set of rights. The “lawfully in” rights include the right to engage in self-employment (Article 18), freedom of movement within a State (Article 26) and protection from expulsion (Article 31). 135. For stateless persons to be “lawfully in” a State party, their presence in the country needs to be authorized by the State. The concept encompasses PART THREE (a) Rights on a gradual, conditional scale 47