A/HRC/40/26 Denmark noted that national leadership and ownership were needed if the situation of internally displaced persons was to be addressed successfully. 37. While acknowledging that the primary responsibility for addressing internal displacement lay with national authorities, several speakers also stressed that preventing displacement and protecting and assisting internally displaced persons, including by providing support for durable solutions, was a daunting responsibility that could be achieved only through joint efforts. Many delegations emphasized the need to foster partnerships at the international and regional levels and noted the important and complementary role played by the international community in supporting States affected by internal displacement. 38. The important role of national human rights institutions and civil society organizations in addressing internal displacement was also highlighted. The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions stressed that as independent institutions with broad human rights mandate and functions, national human rights institutions could make unique and critical contributions to the protection and promotion of the rights of internally displaced persons. The Alliance shared examples of good practices in Afghanistan, Colombia, Nigeria and Ukraine, where national human rights institutions had been carrying out activities such as monitoring and reporting on the situation of internally displaced persons, with specific attention paid to the groups most at risk, such as women and girls, older persons, persons with disabilities and minorities. Other examples of the good practices engaged in by national human rights institutions had included advising the authorities on amendments to laws, regulations and administrative practices or on the development of new legislation compliant with international standards, conducting training, including for law enforcement officials and the internally displaced themselves, and offering legal aid to internally displaced persons. The European Union also emphasized that civil society and volunteer organizations were often at the forefront of national responses to internal displacement and that galvanizing their engagement in the implementation of the Guiding Principles was of paramount importance. 39. Ensuring the participation of internally displaced persons and paying attention to the needs of host communities were referred to as keys to addressing internal displacement by the delegations of Colombia, Denmark the European Union and by the panellists. Delegations noted that the Guiding Principles restated the right of internally displaced persons to participate in programmes and decision-making affecting them and that meaningful participation went beyond consultation, consent and information-sharing to include the internally displaced in the actual design and implementation of programmes. B. Internal displacement in international processes: gaps and opportunities 40. Some delegations, including those of Austria, Ireland and Switzerland, noted that the international community had recently begun to take serious steps to address large-scale cross-border movements, particularly with the adoption of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants in 2016 and the ongoing work on the global compacts, which were to be finalized in 2018. However, those delegations noted that internally displaced persons had been left out of those agendas, and the delegation of Ireland stated that it was time to recognize that the internally displaced deserved the same level of attention, given that the factors that had obliged people to move internally were in most cases the same as those that obliged people to seek refuge in other countries. Delegations emphasized that the international community needed to step up to the challenge of addressing the issue of internal displacement with the same energy that it was putting into addressing cross-border movements. 41. Norway stressed that the persistence of internal displacement represented a major international challenge to the common commitments of United Nations Member States, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in particular. Internally displaced persons were often among the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations. Some delegations, including those of Colombia, Norway and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and the 9