A/RES/74/130 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reception, registration and assistance, as well as to ensure that safe and regular access to asylum for persons in need of international protection remains open and accessible; 35. Expresses grave concern at the large number of asylum seekers who have lost their lives at sea trying to reach safety, encourages international cooperation to further strengthen search and rescue mechanisms in accordance with international law, and commends the great life-saving efforts and actions taken by a number of States in this regard; 36. Emphasizes that the international protection of refugees is a dynamic and action-oriented function that is at the core of the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner and that it includes, in cooperation with States and other partners, the promotion and facilitation of the admission, reception and treatment of refugees in accordance with internationally agreed standards and the ensuring of durable, protection-oriented solutions, bearing in mind the particular needs of vulnerable groups and paying special attention to those with specific needs, and notes in this context that the delivery of international protection is a staff -intensive service that requires adequate staff with the appropriate expertise, especially at the field level; 37. Expresses grave concern about the long-term impact of continued cuts in food rations on the health and well-being of refugees globally, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, and especially its impact on children, owing to insufficient funding and increased costs, and calls upon States to ensure sustained support for the Office of the High Commissioner and the World Food Programme, while looking to provide refugees with alternatives to food assistance, pending a durable solution; 38. Welcomes the positive steps taken by individual States to open their labour markets to refugees; 39. Affirms the importance of age, gender and diversity mainstreaming in analysing protection needs and ensuring the participation of refugees and other persons of concern to the Office of the High Commissioner, as appropriate, in the planning and implementation of programmes of the Office and of State policies, also affirms the importance of according priority to addressing discrimination, gender inequality and the problem of sexual and gender-based violence, recognizing the importance of addressing the protection needs of women, children and persons with disabilities in particular, and underlines the importance of continuing to work on those issues; 40. Encourages States to put in place, if they have not yet done so, appropriate systems and procedures to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration with regard to all actions concerning refugee children; 41. Notes with concern that a large proportion of the world’s out-of-school population lives in conflict-affected areas, and calls upon States, in their implementation of the global compact on refugees, to lend support to host countries in providing quality primary and secondary education in safe learning environments for all refugee children, and to do so within a few months of the initial displacement, as well as the commitments in the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030 – towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all to develop more inclusive, responsive and resilient education systems to meet the needs of children, youth and adults in these contexts, including internally displaced persons and refugees; 42. Notes the efforts by the Office of the High Commissioner to improve its humanitarian assistance response, and stresses the importance of tailored, innovative approaches, including cash-based interventions; 43. Also notes that the lack of civil registration and related documentation makes persons vulnerable to statelessness and associated protection risks, recognizes that birth registration provides an official record of a child ’s legal identity and is 6/9 19-22225