A stateless person is someone with no state or nationality, usually because the state that gave their previous nationality has ceased to exist and there is no successor state .
Whilst more common before the 20th century, when states were somewhat more fragile entities, on September 20, 1954 the United Nations adopted the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons: an active policy to prevent people becoming or remaining stateless. Despite this, there are still Kashmiri and Palestinian refugees who are claiming asylum due to statelessness, for example.
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Last updated: 08-25-2005 10:38:13