A/HRC/34/62 90. Furthermore, he offers reminders that victims do not constitute a monolithic constituency characterized by internal consensus, but rather that they are frequently divided not just because of the pre-existing social cleavages that may have contributed to the violations and to conflict in the first place but additional ones, some of them resulting from the violations and the conflict themselves. 91. He focuses on three conditions for success of victim participation that are frequently not met. Security conditions frequently do not allow for coercion-free participation by former victims, who have especially compelling reasons to be wary of the risks involved and mistrustful of institutions that have often failed abjectly in protecting them. 92. While there has been some progress in offering some psychosocial support to participants in transitional justice measures such as truth commissions and criminal justice processes, the support is, more often than not, quite basic and centred mostly on the participation entities. However, the combination of systematic violations and, not infrequently, years of neglect call for more robust forms of assistance if there is going to be any reasonable expectation that people who were the targets of either State repression or of gross abuses by third parties will be able to participate on an equal footing with others in the design and implementation of a policy that has frequently led to reprisals. The Special Rapporteur, recalling that, despite all this, victims have indeed contributed to transitional justice processes, takes the opportunity to acknowledge the sacrifices that victims have endured in the search for justice. 63 93. Finally, in the two reports he examines the paradox of participation that involves consulting on questions of rights those persons who have been offered weak reasons for having neither a solid understanding of themselves as rights holders, nor experience with effective redress mechanisms. 94. While finding most of the existing capacity-building efforts severely wanting, and therefore arguing that there are few more urgent needs than the design and implementation of proper capacity-development programmes for victims as well as other stakeholders if the promise of participation is going to be realized, the Special Rapporteur calls for the adoption of consultation and participatory methods that are not single events; for this reason, among others, consultation and participation must be ongoing processes. 95. The Special Rapporteur also recalls that in addition to epistemic reasons, there is also a legitimacy-based argument for victim participation that includes the following considerations: participation provides victims a measure of recognition not only as victims but also as rights holders; this in turns helps victims become visible and gain a place in the public sphere frequently denied to them. These equalizing tendencies enable the identification of common experiences, values and principles across different constituencies, a necessary condition for sustainable consensus- and coalition formation on controversial redress and prevention issues. 63 See, e.g., www.elespectador.com/noticias/paz/van-70-asesinatos-de-defensores-de-derechoshumanos-201-articulo-666528. Seventy human rights defenders have been killed in Colombia in 2016, including 30 after the ceasefire agreement between the Government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia came into effect. 21