A/RES/48/116 Page 3 Welcoming the continuing efforts of the High Commissioner to meet the protection and assistance needs of refugee women and refugee children, who constitute the majority of the world’s refugee population and who are often exposed to serious threats to their safety and well-being, Recognizing the increased demands faced by the Office of the High Commissioner worldwide and the need for all available resources to be fully and effectively mobilized to meet those demands, 1. Strongly reaffirms the fundamental importance of the function of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees of providing international protection to refugees and the need for States to cooperate fully with her Office in order to facilitate the effective exercise of this function; 2. Calls upon all States that have not yet done Governments of newly independent States, to accede to or to and to implement fully the 1951 Convention 5/ and the relating to the Status of Refugees and relevant regional protection of refugees; so, including to declare succession 1967 Protocol 6/ instruments for the 3. Also calls upon all States to uphold asylum as an indispensable instrument for the international protection of refugees, and to respect scrupulously the fundamental principle of non-refoulement; 4. Urges States to ensure access, consistent with relevant international and regional instruments, for all asylum-seekers to fair and efficient procedures for the determination of refugee status and the granting of asylum to eligible persons; 5. Expresses deep concern regarding serious threats to the security or the well-being of refugees, including incidents of refoulement, unlawful expulsion, physical attacks and detention under unacceptable conditions, and calls upon States to take all measures necessary to ensure respect for the principles of refugee protection as well as the humane treatment of asylumseekers in accordance with internationally recognized human rights norms; 6. Endorses, in this connection, the conclusions on the personal security of refugees and on refugee protection and sexual violence adopted by the Executive Committee of the Programme of the High Commissioner at its forty-fourth session; 2/ 7. Welcomes the High Commissioner’s policy on refugee children and the activities undertaken to ensure its implementation, aimed at ensuring that the specific needs of refugee children, including in particular unaccompanied minors, are fully met within the overall protection and assistance activities of the Office, in cooperation with Governments and other relevant organizations; 8. Acknowledges with appreciation the further progress made in the implementation of measures within the framework of the High Commissioner’s programme to ensure the protection and to meet the assistance needs of refugee women and girls, in accordance with the High Commissioner’s policy on refugee women; 9. Stresses the importance of international solidarity and burdensharing in reinforcing the international protection of refugees, and urges all /...