Article 32 Naturalization The Contracting States shall as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of stateless persons. They shall in particular make every effort to expedite naturalization proceedings and to reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings. 1. This article did not provoke any discussion in the conference: its inclusion was agreed 229 upon by a vote of 17 to none, with 2 abstentions. 2. Art. 32 consists of two parts: One is a recommendation to or a general moral obligation on the Contracting States to facilitate as far as possible the naturalization and assimilation of the stateless person residing in their countries. The other is a more specific obligation, viz., to expedite proceedings whenever an application for naturalization can be or has been made and to reduce the costs involved. The word “assimilation” is not used in the usual meaning of loss of the specific identity of the persons involved but in the sense of integration into the economic, social and cultural 230 life of the country. Article 33 Information on national legislation The Contracting States shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations the laws and regulations which they may adopt to ensure the application of this Convention. 1. There was some disagreement in the conference regarding the inclusion of this Article in the Convention. The Ad Hoc Committee had suggested to apply Article 31 of the draft 231 Convention, which differed from Article 36 of the Refugee Convention: the British representative first advocated the final wording while the Belgian was for Article 31 of the draft Convention. There was so some whether it would visa e to Secretary-General with the information to be supplied under the relevant article of the Refugee Convention. Finally, there was objection to the inclusion of the Article based on the title of the Article (Information on national legislation), viz., that it would require every Contracting State to transmit information regarding all the laws and regulations which they may adopt generally regarding stateless persons. The Belgian proposal was withdrawn and the inclusion of the article decided by a vote of 232 18 to 1, with 1 abstention. 2. Article 33 stems from the right of every party to a convention to be informed about its application by other parties. In order to facilitate such information, Article 33 obligates the Contracting States to communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations the laws and regulations adopted by them in applying the Convention, which will be available to all Contracting States. 229 SR.8, p. 13. 230 The French representative in the Ad Hoc Committee considered "assimilation" to mean "the intermediate stage between the establishment of a refugee on a particular territory and his naturalization" (SR.39, p. 28). 231 "Each of the Contracting States shall, within reasonable time and in accordance with its Constitution, adopt legislation or other measures to give effect to the provisions of this Convention, if such measures are not already in effect." The Refugee Conference did not adopt this proposal because it was assumed that Contracting States would anyhow enact the necessary legislation and because of the differences in the constitutional structure of the various states: in some of them ratified international agreements automatically become part of the domestic legislation, in others implementary legislation is required (see statement by the Israel representative in SR.9, p. 3). 232 SR.8, pp. 13-14; SR.9, pp. 2-4.