Colombia today became the 19th country to sign the convention relating to the status of stateless persons. Misael Pastrana, Colombia’s alternative representative to the United Nations, signed for his government at a brief ceremony this morning in the office of Constantin Stavropoulos, principal director of the UN legal department.
The convention accords an internationally recognized juridical status to an individual who has no link of nationality with any state and only on this ground. It differs from the refugee convention in that the latter benefits only those stateless persons who also belong to certain well-defined categories of refugees.
This convention will come into force on the 90th day following the day of deposit of the sixth instrument of ratification for accession. Those countries which have previously signed the convention, are; Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Federal Republic of Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Vatican City.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
