A/HRC/10/59 page 27 104. The plans of the Minister of Gender to reconstitute the Conseil national de la femme would need to be closely examined. Technical assistance provided to this plan should not detract from crucial donor support to local Congolese women non-governmental organizations. 5. Addressing economic root causes of human rights violations 105. The illegal exploitation of natural resources in the eastern DRC benefits armed groups and rogue elements in the state security forces; it perpetuates the armed conflicts and is often accompanied by serious human rights violations, namely forced labour. Seriously addressing the illicit exploitation of natural resources in the DRC will require exporters and consumers of Congolese mineral products to step up their due diligence efforts and publicly disclose what steps they have taken to prevent the purchase of mineral ore or its products mined in conflict areas of the DRC. Similarly, it also requires to develop concurrently the same requirement for due diligence at the DRC state level, to build the necessary capacity at the national level and to identify what role international technical cooperation should play in supporting it. Technical assistance partners can help the Government implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, for which the DRC was accepted as a candidate country in February 2008, or similar accountability mechanisms that will help prevent illegal diversion of state revenues and increase the resources available to the State. 106. With much of the international discourse focusing on illegal mining, many still fail to recognize the important role of local conflicts over land, exacerbated by several waves of displacement and returns. Beginning in provinces of particular concern such as North Kivu, community-based land commissions should be set up, involving traditional leaders, provincial state officials and community representatives, in particular also women, returnees and minority groups, to address local disputes over land. The commissions should be provided with the resources to offer compensation as a last resort where there are competing legitimate claims or where a redistribution of land to marginalized sections of society is necessary to resolve conflicts and ensure justice. An alternative would be to give this role to the justices of peace as described above. A thorough analysis of existing mechanisms of alternative dispute resolution based on customary law would be needed in order to set up a system within the framework of the State that is acceptable and supported by the population. 6. Protecting the rights of the displaced and minorities 107. The Government, in particular the Ministry of Social and Humanitarian Affairs and its provincial counterparts in the eastern DRC, has to assume its responsibilities regarding protection and assistance for the internally displaced emanating from international and regional human rights treaties and the Protocol on Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons adopted at the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region which obliges the DRC to incorporate the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal