Forthcoming in the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (27) state ‘at the date of injury and at the date of the official presentation of the claim’.99 This was a new exception to the rule of nationality of claims, whereby in principle a state can only assert a right of diplomatic protection in respect of its own nationals. 100 While the traditional view was that a state that wrongs an individual lacking a nationality does not commit an ‘international delinquency’,101 the ILC felt – and rightly so – that the time had come to consign this postulation to the legal dustbin. In fact, as the commentary makes clear, the normative justifications behind that innovation were the widely endorsed commitments to reduce statelessness and protect the rights of refugees and stateless persons. 102 The value of this provision is rather limited as it does not apply against the state of nationality of the refugee, even if the injury was caused after they had already established lawful and habitual residence in the state of refuge.103 Thus, diplomatic protection would not be available to individuals targeted with discriminatory expropriations for having been expelled, even though they are by then de facto stateless but with a connection to the claimant state by virtue of regular and longterm residence in its territory. 104 The initiative to progressively develop the law of diplomatic protection to include refugees and stateless persons was in line with the broader approach adopted by John Dugard to the topic. For him, diplomatic protection ‘remained an important weapon in the arsenal of human rights protection’ 105 and should thus be understood beyond an inter-state paradigm. It also received overwhelming support from members of the Commission. Yet, in the absence of UN ILC, ‘Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection’, at Art. 8(1) and (2) . See Panevezys-Saldutiskis Railway (Estonia v Lithuania) (Judgment) [1938] PCIJ Series A/B 76, at 16. 101 See Dickson Car Wheel Company (USA v Mexico) [1931] UNRIAA (Sales 1951.v1) 669, at 678. 102 UN ILC, ‘Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection’, at 35–37. 103 Ibid., at Art. 8(3). 104 J. Crawford, ‘The International Law Commission’s Articles on Diplomatic Protection’ in T. Maluwa, M. du Plessis, and D. Tladi (eds), The Pursuit of a Brave New World in International Law: Essays in Honour of John Dugard (Brill Nijhoff 2017) 135-171, at 154. 105 UN ILC, ‘First Report on Diplomatic Protection, by Mr. John R. Dugard, Special Rapporteur’ (2000) UN Doc. A/CN.4/506 and Add.1, at 215. 99 100 26 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4816199