CONVENTION RELATING TO THE STATUS OF ... - Refworld

Paragraph 14
Subject only to the terms of paragraph 13, the provisions of this Schedule in no way affect the
laws and regulations governing the conditions of admission to, transit through, residence and
establishment in, and departure from, the territories of the Contracting States.
Paragraph 15
Neither the issue of the document nor the entries made thereon determine or affect the status of
the holder, particularly as regards nationality.
Paragraph 16
The issue of the document does not in any way entitle the holder to the protection of the
diplomatic or consular authorities of the country of issue, and does not ipso facto confer on these
authorities a right of protection.
Many of the provisions of the Schedule are self-explanatory. Comments are in order regarding
the following paragraphs:
(1) Paragraph 1 (3) - There was considerable discussion in the conference regarding the
desirability of a uniform travel document. Some representatives contended that their governments
had been anyhow issuing travel documents to stateless persons, and that there was need to
change the practice; others emphasized the advantages of a uniform travel document for all
parties to the Convention. The representative of Yugoslavia proposed, as a compromise, to make
the form of the document a recommendation rather than an obligation. 192 The Ad Hoc Committee
on the Travel Documents proposed 193 the existing version and the conference accepted it. It will
be noted that subpara. (3) uses the word “will” (consider) not “shall” to denote that they are
requested but not bound to consider the advisability of adopting the model document. Thus, it is
left to the various Parties to use or not to use the model document, but they are encouraged to do
so and could hardly refuse it unless there are compelling reasons for not doing so.
(2) Paragraph 2 leaves it to the individual countries to define the word “children”, i.e., to
prescribe the age at which a person may obtain his own document and below which he may be
included in the travel document of another, adult refugee. 194
(3) Paragraph 5 provoked a considerable discussion in the conference. The Ad Hoc
Committee on the Travel Documents had omitted this paragraph on the ground that it was difficult
to lay down any rules for the length of the validity of the travel document, particularly since many
countries generally issued passports valid for a specified period of time, with the possibility of
extension, and it would not be desirable to force them to make an exception for stateless
persons. It was also explained that the fees for a long-term document (the Schedule to the
Refugee Convention provided for a one or two-year validity) were high and the persons involved
were reluctant to pay them if the journey was of short duration. The difficulties were finally
resolved by the present wording. 195
(4) Paragraph 6 (1) deals with both the renewal of the document and its extension (beyond
the period for which it was issued in accordance with para. 5). 196 This paragraph establishes the
192 SR.8, pp. 5-7.
193 E/CONF.17/L.15 and L.18.
194 For the same provision in the Refugee Convention, see SR.17, pp. 17-18.
195 SR.11, pp. 8-9 ff.
196 It was pointed out in the Ad Hoc Committee that there was hardly any real difference between "renewal", "extension",
and "issuance of a new document". There might be a slight difference in form between "renewal" and "extension", but
none between "renewal" and "issue of a new document". Nevertheless, these expressions were retained because of the
strictness of the services concerned in the matter of form (SR.16, para. 17). The present Convention took over para. 6 (1)
without change.