distinguishing between the rights that can be demanded by different minorities”. For example, “those who have been established for a long time on the territory may have stronger rights than those who have recently arrived.” It suggests that “the best approach appears to be to avoid making an absolute distinction between ‘new’ and ‘old’ minorities by excluding the former and including the latter, but to recognize that in the application of the Declaration the ‘old’ minorities have stronger entitlements than the ‘new’.”2 In practice, under international law, certain minority rights have been made applicable to recently arrived migrants who share an ethnic, religious or linguistic identity. Their treatment is to be rooted in the customary international law principle of non-discrimination, which is fundamental in international law and is reflected in all human rights instruments and documents. Indeed, the right not to be discriminated against is guaranteed under several instruments of direct relevance to minorities. These include the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,  the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and the Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals Who are not Nationals of the Country in which They Live. D. What is the relationship between minorities, non-citizens and stateless persons? A particular problem relating to minorities and citizenship is that all too often members of certain groups are denied or deprived of their citizenship because of their national or ethnic, religious and linguistic characteristics. This practice is contrary to international law, particularly in regard to article 9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which states that “a Contracting State may not deprive any person or group of persons of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds.” It is thus important to note that discrimination against a person on one of the aforementioned grounds resulting in the arbitrary deprivation of nationality may contribute to meeting some of the requirements in the determination of refugee status. Most of the world’s estimated 15 million stateless persons also belong to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities. Discrimination against minorities has frequently led to their exclusion from citizenship. Such exclusion is often experienced in newly independent States that define citizenship in a manner that excludes persons belonging to certain minority groups who 2 E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2005/2, paras. 10–11. 5