Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa A/RES/74/131 Africa receives a fair and equitable share of the resources designated for refugees, and recognizes the importance of increased, flexible, predictable and multi-year funding; 38. Encourages the Office of the High Commissioner and interested States to identify protracted refugee situations which might lend themselves to resolution through the development of specific, multilateral, comprehensive and practical approaches to resolving such refugee situations, including the improvement of international burden- and responsibility-sharing and the realization of durable solutions, within a multilateral context, and recalls that those solutions include voluntary repatriation and, where appropriate and feasible, local integration and resettlement in a third country, while reaffirming that voluntary repatriation, supported, as necessary, by rehabilitation and development assistance to facilitate sustainable reintegration, remains the preferred solution; 39. Recalls the need to reflect on effective strategies to ensure adequate protection and assistance for internally displaced persons and to prevent and reduce such displacement, and in this regard encourages the Secretary-General to work with Member States and the United Nations system to explore ways to better address the long-term needs of internally displaced persons, support communities that host them and improve the lives of the many millions of internally displaced persons; 40. Expresses grave concern about the plight of internally displaced persons in Africa, welcomes the efforts of African States in strengthening the regional mechanisms for the protection of and assistance to internally displaced persons, calls upon States to take concrete action to pre-empt internal displacement and to meet the protection and assistance needs of internally displaced persons, recalls in that regard the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, 16 notes the current activities of the Office of the High Commissioner related to the protection of and assistance to internally displaced persons, including in the context of inter-agency arrangements in this field, emphasizes that such activities should be consistent with relevant General Assembly resolutions and should not undermine the refugee mandate of the Office and the institution of asylum, and encourages the High Commissioner to continue his dialogue with States on the role of his Office in this regard; 41. Welcomes the efforts by the High Commissioner to improve coordination with Member States and other United Nations agencies; 42. Also welcomes the efforts by the High Commissioner towards regionalization and decentralization, including to ensure that decision-making is closer to the point of delivery, and towards efficiency gains as efforts continue to advance refugee protection and solutions; 43. Encourages African States, together with development and humanitarian actors, to work closely on multi-year strategies for refugees and internally displaced persons, factoring in the subregional dimension of many forced displacement crises; 44. Invites the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the human rights of internally displaced persons to continue the ongoing dialogue with Member States and the intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned, in accordance with the Council’s mandate, and to include information thereon in all reports to the Council and the General Assembly; 45. Requests the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report on assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session, taking fully into account, inter alia, the situation of their host communities, refugee camps and the efforts expended by countries of asylum and those aimed at bridging funding gaps, under the item entitled “Report of __________________ 16 19-22226 E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, annex. 9/10