Why Union Law Can And Should Protect Stateless Persons 111 persons was discussed during the drafting of the 1961 Convention but defeated.33 It was later decided that UNHCR would be the agency referred to in Article 11 and through a series of resolutions from 1994 onwards, the UN General Assembly gave UNHCR the formal mandate to prevent and reduce statelessness as well to protect the rights of stateless persons.34 In spite of the text and purpose of Article 11 of the 1961 Convention, however, UNHCR does not, or at least not routinely, act as an intermediary between stateless persons and States. UNHCR describes its mandate in respect of stateless persons in terms much similar as the organisation of its supervisory tasks in relation to the 1951 Refugee Convention—focussing on the gathering of information, promoting ratification, supporting legislative changes and providing guidelines on the proper application of international norms.35 One should, of course, not underestimate the potential of this work and much may indeed be expected of the publication in 2014 of the Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons which was modelled on the highly influential Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status. Yet, UNHCR does not itself provide ‘surrogate’ protection to individuals (in lieu of a country of nationality) and does not have the legal power to hear individual complaints or to enforce compliance in the case of a breach of the statelessness conventions.36 In sum, UNHCR depends on the willingness of States to achieve the aims as set out in its mandate. 3 The Situation of Stateless Persons in Europe It is not straightforward to draw an accurate picture of the scope and character of the statelessness phenomenon in Europe. Helpful, is that in the past five years UNHCR has commissioned a number of extensive research projects in selected European countries aimed at analysing the problem of statelessness 33  Ibid., at 252–253. 34  U NGA Res. 3274 (XXIX) of 10 Dec. 1974; UNGA Res. 31/36 of 30. Nov. 1976; UNGA Res. 49/169 of 23 Dec. 1994, UN Doc. A/RES/49/169; UNGA Res. 50/152 of 9 Feb. 1996, UN Doc. A/ RES/50/152; UNGA Res. 55/153 of 30 Jan. 2001, UN Doc. A/RES/55/153; UNGA Res. 61/137 of 25 Jan. 2007, UN Doc. A/RES/61/137. 35 The protection mandate is comprehensively described in UNHCR EXCOM Conclusion No. 106 (LVII) of 6 Oct. 2006. 36 Manly notes that UNHCR is increasingly active in some European countries, especially in the Balkans, to provide legal aid to individuals in nationality procedures: Manly, M.,‘UNHCR’s Mandate and Activities to Address Statelessness in Europe’, 14 European Journal of Migration and Law (2012) at 272–273. European Journal of Migration and Law 19 (2017) 101–135