1998 (Executive Committee—49th Session) (k) Remains deeply concerned also about continuing violations of the rights of refugee children, including through abduction with a view to forcing participation in military activities, as well as through acts of violence, threats to their dignity, forced family separation, and sexual abuse and exploitation, and calls on States and relevant parties to take all necessary measures to end these violations, in compliance with principles and standards of refugee law, human rights law and humanitarian law; (l) Notes that 1999 has been declared the International Year of Older Persons, and calls upon UNHCR to make renewed efforts to ensure that the rights, needs and dignity of elderly refugees are fully respected and addressed through appropriate programme activities; (m) Reaffirms the importance of the right to a nationality and calls on States to adopt all necessary measures to prevent or reduce the incidence of statelessness, including through national legislation and, as appropriate, accession to and implementation of the Statelessness Conventions; draws particular and urgent attention in this regard to the situation of children of refugees and asylum-seekers born in asylum countries who could be stateless unless appropriate legislation and registration procedures are in place and are followed; The right to seek and enjoy asylum (n) Underlines the utmost significance to refugee protection of the institution of asylum, which serves the purpose of providing a structured framework for protection and assistance to persons in need of international protection, while ensuring that appropriate durable solutions can be achieved; (o) Reiterates its commitment to uphold the principles of international solidarity and burden-sharing, reaffirms the need for resources to be mobilized to assist countries receiving refugees, particularly developing countries who host the large majority of the world’s refugees and bear a heavy burden in this regard, and calls upon Governments, UNHCR and the international community to continue to respond to the asylum and assistance needs of refugees until durable solutions are found; (p) Recognizes that international solidarity and burden-sharing are of direct importance to the satisfactory implementation of refugee protection principles; stresses, however, in this regard, that access to asylum and the meeting by States of their protection obligations should not be dependent on burden-sharing arrangements first being in place, particularly because respect for fundamental human rights and humanitarian principles is an obligation for all members of the international community; (q) Strongly deplores the continuing incidence and often tragic humanitarian consequences of refoulement in all its forms, including through summary removals, occasionally en masse, and reiterates in this regard the need to admit refugees to the territory of States, which includes no rejection at frontiers without access to fair and effective procedures for determining their status and protection needs; (r) Strongly urges States to devise and implement procedures for handling refugee claims which are consistent with protection principles provided for in applicable universal refugee instruments and in regional refugee instruments, consistent with international standards, as well as with the standards recommended by the Executive Committee; (s) Notes with concern reports from countries that there is an increasing trend towards the misuse or abuse of national refugee status determination procedures; acknowledges the need for States to address this problem both at the national level and through international cooperation; urges, however, States to ensure that national law and administrative practices, including migration control measures, are compatible with the principles and standards of applicable refugee and human rights law, as set out in relevant international instruments; (t) Emphasizes the duty of asylum-seekers and refugees to comply with the laws and regulations of the country in which they find themselves; Family unity (u) Recalls that Articles 16(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 23(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights proclaim that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State; (v) Recommends that Governments take appropriate measures to ensure that the unity of the family is maintained, particularly in cases where the head of the family has been admitted as a refugee to a particular country; (w) Exhorts States, in accordance with the relevant principles and standards, to implement measures to facilitate family reunification of refugees on their territory, especially through the consideration of all related requests in a positive and humanitarian spirit, and without undue delay; 128