United Nations General Assembly A/RES/56/137 Distr.: General 15 February 2002 Fifty-sixth session Agenda item 114 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly [on the report of the Third Committee (A/56/578)] 56/137. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The General Assembly, Having considered the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the activities of his Office 1 and the report of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the work of its fifty-second session 2 and the conclusions and decisions contained therein, Recalling its annual resolutions on the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees adopted since its establishment by the General Assembly, 3 Expressing its appreciation for the leadership shown by the High Commissioner since he assumed office in January 2001, and commending the staff and implementing partners of the Office of the High Commissioner for the competent, courageous and dedicated manner in which they discharge their responsibilities, 1. Endorses the report of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the work of its fifty-second session; 2 2. Welcomes the fiftieth anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, 4 notes that the Convention and the 1967 Protocol thereto 5 have continuously served as the cornerstone of the international refugee protection regime, and welcomes in this context the convening of a ministerial meeting of States parties as an expression of their collective commitment to full and effective implementation of the Convention and Protocol and the values they embody; _______________ 1 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 12 (A/56/12). Ibid., Supplement No. 12A (A/56/12/Add.1). 3 Resolution 428 (V). 4 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, No. 2545. 5 Ibid., vol. 606, No. 8791. 2 01 48464