ground. The Convention includes an exception to this principle concerning naturalized citizens who reside abroad for more than seven consecutive years. These individuals must express to the appropriate authority their wish to retain their nationality. States should thus adequately inform naturalized citizens of this policy both within their borders and, abroad, through their consular services. • More recent instruments, such as the European Convention on Nationality, do not allow States to deprive a person of his/her nationality on the grounds that the individual habitually resides abroad if the individual concerned would thereby become stateless. Causes linked to state succession Transfer of territory or sovereignty Although it is only partially addressed in specific international instruments and principles, the transfer of territory or of sovereignty has long been a cause of statelessness. National laws and practices will inevitably be altered when a State undergoes profound territorial changes or changes in sovereignty, such as when a State wins independence from a colonial power, after a State is dissolved, if a new State or States succeed(s) a dissolved State, or if a State is restored after a period of dissolution. Any of these events can trigger the adoption of new citizenship laws or decrees and/or new administrative procedures. Individuals may become stateless in these situations if they fail to acquire nationality under the new legislation/decrees or under new administrative procedures, or if they are denied nationality because of a reinterpretation of previously applicable laws and practices. To avoid these problems: • Article 10 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness stipulates that States Parties should ensure that statelessness does not occur as a result of transfer of territory. States should sign bilateral or multilateral treaties that include provisions to ensure that statelessness does not occur as a result of such a transfer. Where no treaty is signed, the State(s) concerned should grant nationality to those who would otherwise be stateless. • In practice, populations are generally linked with territories; however some international treaties, constitutional provisions, and nationality legislation also offer the choice of nationality from among the successor States. • Succession treaties may also incorporate provisions that focus on how the dissolution or separation of States may affect nationality. • Responding to the need to codify and develop international law concerning nationality in relation to State succession, the International Law Commission (ILC) of the United Nations prepared draft articles on the subject that are contained in the Annex to UN General Assembly Resolution 55/153 of 2001. The draft articles stipulate that: 34