Organization meant that there was not sufficient time for a detailed analysis of the situation of stateless persons at the 1951 Conference of Plenipotentiaries that had been convened to consider both issues. Thus, the 1951 Refugee Convention was adopted at the Conference, while adoption of the Protocol addressing stateless persons was postponed for a later date. A stateless person may be entitled to protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention. A stateless refugee receives protection as a refugee, since the arbitrary deprivation of citizenship because of a person’s race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion can indicate that the individual should be recognized as a refugee. What does the 1954 Convention provide for? The Protocol on stateless persons that had been drafted as an addendum to the 1951 Refugee Convention was made into a Convention in its own right in 1954. The 1954 Convention is the primary international instrument that aims to regulate and improve the status of stateless persons and to ensure that stateless persons are accorded their fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination. (See Annex 1 for a list of States Parties to the 1954 Convention.) The provisions of the 1954 Convention are, in many respects, very similar to those of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Acceding to the 1954 Convention is not a substitute for granting nationality to those born and habitually resident in a State’s territory. No matter how extensive the rights granted to a stateless person may be, they are not equivalent to acquiring citizenship. Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention includes the internationally recognized definition of a stateless person: “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”. Persons who fall within the scope Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention are sometimes referred to as de jure stateless persons. By contrast, reference is made in the Final Act to de facto stateless persons. The term de facto statelessness is not defined in any international instrument and there is no treaty regime specific to this category of persons. UNHCR’s working definition of de facto stateless persons is persons outside of their own country, who are unable or, for valid reasons, are unwilling to avail themselves of the diplomatic protection of that country. Who is a national? Who is stateless? To be considered a national by operation of law means that an individual is automatically considered to be a citizen under the terms outlined in the State’s enacted legal instruments related to nationality, or that the individual has been granted nationality through a decision made by the relevant authorities. Most people are considered nationals by operation of only one State’s laws – usually either the laws of the State in which the person was born (jus soli) or the laws of the State of which the person’s parents were nationals when the individual was born (jus sanguinis). 10