A/RES/51/75 Page 2 Commending the High Commissioner and her staff for the competent, courageous and dedicated manner in which they discharge their responsibilities, Paying tribute to those staff members who have endangered or lost their lives in the course of their duties, and emphasizing the urgent need for effective measures to ensure the security of staff engaged in humanitarian operations, Distressed at the widespread violations of the principle of nonrefoulement and of the rights of refugees, in some cases resulting in the loss of their lives, and seriously disturbed at reports indicating that large numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers have been subjected to refoulement and expulsion in highly dangerous situations, 1. Strongly reaffirms the fundamental importance and the purely humanitarian and non-political character of the function of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees of providing international protection to refugees and seeking permanent solutions to the problem of refugees and the need for States to cooperate fully with the Office in order to facilitate the effective exercise of that function; 2. Calls upon all States that have not yet done so to accede or succeed to and to implement fully the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and relevant regional refugee instruments, as applicable, for the protection of refugees; 3. Reiterates that everyone, without distinction of any kind, has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution, and 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, which is not subject to derogation; 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. Deplores the fact that in certain situations refugees, returnees and displaced persons of concern to the Office of the High Commissioner have been subjected to armed attack, murder, rape and other violations of or threats to their personal security and other fundamental rights, and calls upon States to take all measures necessary to ensure respect for the principles of refugee protection and the humane treatment of asylum-seekers in accordance with internationally recognized human rights and humanitarian norms; 6. Emphasizes the importance of ensuring access by the Office of the High Commissioner to asylum-seekers, refugees and other persons of concern in order to enable it to carry out its protection functions in an effective manner, expresses deep concern at conditions in a number of countries or regions that seriously impede the delivery of humanitarian assistance and protection, and calls upon States to take all necessary measures to ensure such access and to ensure the security of staff engaged in humanitarian operations; /...