of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. The 1951 dateline was subsequently removed in the case of States Parties to the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, Article I(2) of which provides: For the purpose of the present Protocol, the term “refugee” shall, except as regards the application of paragraph 3 of this article, mean any person within the definition of article 1 of the Convention as if the words “As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and ...” “and the words”... “a result of such events”, in article 1 A (2) were omitted. The 1951 dateline never applied to UNHCR, since according to the Office’s 1950 Statute the competence of the High Commissioner extends not only to Any person who, as a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear or for reasons other than personal convenience, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear or for reasons other than personal convenience, is unwilling to return to it 30 but also to Any other person who is outside the country of his nationality, or if he has no nationality, the country of his former habitual residence, because he has or had well-founded fear of persecution by reason of his race, religion, nationality or political opinion and is unable or, because of such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the government of the country of his nationality, or, if he has no nationality, to return to the country of his former habitual residence.31 According to paragraph 8(a) of UNHCR’s Statute, one of the functions of the High Commissioner is to supervise the application of international conventions for the protection of refugees. Accordingly, Article 35(1) of the 1951 Convention and Article II(2) of the 1967 Protocol both provide that Contracting States shall cooperate with UNHCR, and in particular facilitate its duty in supervising the application of their provisions. While the 1951 Convention, 1967 Protocol and UNHCR’s Statute are not instruments for the protection of stateless persons per se, UNHCR has observed that all refugees are de jure or de facto stateless. For example, according to UNHCR’s 1962 Eligibility Guide: Whether unable or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of his government, a refugee [with a nationality] is always a person who does not enjoy that protection. His nationality is rendered ineffective by such lack of national protection which is either denied to him or rejected by him. The result is that he is always de facto stateless.32 As the Eligibility Guide goes on to say, the protection in question “may be diplomatic or consular in character”.33 UNHCR’s position that all refugees who have a nationality are de facto stateless would seem to imply a broader understanding of de facto statelessness than that of the Intergovernmental 30 31 32 33 Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, para. 6A(ii). Ibid., para. 6B. UNHCR, “Eligibility: A Guide for the Staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”, March 1962, p. 81, para. 78. Ibid., para. 80. 10