    Status of Stateless Persons51 which drafted the 1954 Stateless Convention, and a further five states had ‘observer’ status.52 Of these, only Cambodia, Iran, and the Philippines represented Asia in the drafting committee, although Indonesia and Japan both had ‘observer’ status. Of course, not all Asian states had emerged from colonial rule as independent states at the time of the 1954 Stateless Convention’s drafting.53 However, even though decolonization was well underway when the 1961 Stateless Convention was drafted, Asian states remained underrepresented in its drafting. Thirty-five states were represented at the conference in March– April 1959 and thirty states when it reconvened in August 1961,54 of which nine were from Asia.55 To be clear, non-ratification of these treaties directly addressing statelessness does not mean that states in Asia (and more generally) do not have international law obligations towards stateless persons. Most states in Asia are signatories to other human rights treaties which impose obligations on states parties to prevent statelessness and protect stateless persons.56 For instance, all states in Asia have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)57 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which are two of the most widely ratified treaties in the world. In fact, 51 Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Israel, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vatican City, Yemen and Yugoslavia. The states are listed in ‘The Travaux Préparatoires of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons compiled and introduced by Betsy L. Fisher: ibid 349–351. 52 Argentina, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, as well as other organizations such as UNHCR. 53 Sumedha Choudhury’s developing work on rethinking the origins of statelessness law from a decolonial perspective here will contribute much-needed insight: see Sumedha Choudhury, Denationalisation and Discrimination in Postcolonial India’ (2022) 22(3) International Journal of Discrimination and the Law 326. 54 ‘United Nations Conference on the Elimination or Reduction of Future Statelessness’ (Geneva, 24 March–18 April 1959, New York, 15–28 August 1961) <https://legal.un.org/ diplomaticconferences/1959_statelessness/>. 55 Countries in Asia represented were China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Pakistan, Turkey, and United Arab Republic: ‘List of Representatives, Observers and Secretaria’, United Nations Conference on the Elimination or Reduction of Future Statelessness (Geneva, 24 March–18 April 1959, New York, 15–28 August 1961) UN Doc A/ CONF.9/9 <https://legal.un.org/diplomaticconferences/1959_statelessness/docs/english/ vol_1/a_conf9_9.pdf> accessed 13 September 2023. 56 However, countries may have made reservations to provisions relevant to statelessness. 57 IWRAW Asia Pacific, ‘State and Non-State Parties to CEDAW’ (April 2022) <https://cedaw .iwraw-ap.org/cedaw/state-and-non-state-parties-to-cedaw/> accessed 12 September 2023. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009399555.003 Published online by Cambridge University Press