[2] The United Nations Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights were approved on 10 December 1948.

The Declaration at Article 15 affirms that:[3] The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was promulgated on 28 July 1951.

On 26 April 1954, ECOSOC adopted a Resolution to convene a Conference of Plenipotentiaries to "regulate and improve the status of stateless persons by an international agreement".

[1] The 99 parties are: Madagascar denounced its accession made in 1962, effective 2 April 1966.

Upon resuming the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, China notified the Secretary-General that the Convention will also apply to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.In addition, the notification made by the Government of China contained the following declaration: