introductory note by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) The United Nations General Assembly convened a Conference of Plenipotentiaries to draft an international treaty on refugees and stateless persons in 1951. While the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted that year, international negotiations on the protection needs of stateless persons continued. The Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons was adopted on 28 September 1954 and entered into force on 6 June 1960. It establishes a framework for the international protection of stateless persons and is the most comprehensive codification of the rights of stateless persons yet attempted at the international level. The 1954 Convention’s most significant contribution to international law is its definition of a “stateless person” as someone “who is not considered as a national by any State under operation of its law.” For those who qualify as stateless persons, the Convention provides important minimum standards of treatment. It requires that stateless persons have the same rights as citizens with respect to freedom of religion and education of their children. For a number of other rights, such as the right of association, the right to employment and to housing, it provides that stateless persons are to enjoy, at a minimum, the same treatment as other non-nationals. To overcome the profound vulnerability that affects people who are stateless and to help resolve the practical problems they face in their everyday lives, the Convention upholds the right to freedom of movement for stateless persons lawfully on the territory, and requires States to provide them with identity papers and travel documents. The Convention also prohibits the expulsion of stateless persons who are lawfully on the territory of a State Party. Because protection as a stateless person is not a substitute for possession of a nationality, the Convention requires that States facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of stateless persons. Like the 1951 Convention relating to 1954 c o n v e n t i o n • stateless persons 3