A/HRC/22/38 solutions for internally displaced persons and to formulate a comprehensive State policy in consultation with internally displaced persons and host communities, which was included in the national plan of action (para. 9.113). During its universal periodic review of Sri Lanka in 2008, the Government also voluntarily pledged to develop a comprehensive and uniform compensation policy for the displaced, and to complete the process of drafting a bill on the rights of internally displaced persons in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The Government also accepted recommendations to take the measures necessary to protect the rights of the displaced in accordance with international standards, including with regard to long-term housing and property restitution, facilitating the reintegration of displaced persons in areas of return, and the provision of assistance to them. The National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights 2011-2016 launched in October 2011 envisaged a national policy on displacement that would be formulated within six months. To date, however, no comprehensive national policy for displaced persons, no policy on compensation for the displaced and no legislation on the rights of the displaced has been drafted or adopted. 38. Another obstacle is the lack of official and comprehensive figures on internally displaced persons, given that no comprehensive profiling of displaced persons has been undertaken in Sri Lanka since 2007. At the end of 2012, a compilation of Government source data by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on internally displaced persons indicated that, of those displaced over the 26-year long conflict, approximately 483,300 individuals had returned to their area of origin, while about 94,000 remain displaced. Of those displaced after April 2008 and housed in Menik Farm following the end of the war, approximately 271,200 have returned to their area of origin, while an estimated 18,000 continue to live with host families or in welfare camps, transit situations or on relocation sites. 39. The return of internally displaced persons to their area of origin alone does not imply a durable solution to their plight. The recommendation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission that assistance be provided to returnees to enable them to repair or build permanent houses, as well as for basic infrastructural needs to be met, including adequate roads, schools and hospitals where people have been resettled, was not incorporated into the national plan of action (para. 9.103). The Government has, however, embarked on a major reconstruction and resettlement programme for internally displaced persons. The OHCHR technical mission was able to visit several resettlement sites, which varied enormously in many respects, including the standard of housing and access to basic amenities. 40. In response to the Commission’s recommendation that the Government should be clear on its resettlement policies (para. 9.106), the Ministry of Lands is to conduct awareness-raising programmes on the implementation of circular No. 2011/4 of the Commissioner General of Lands. It should be noted, however, that the circular was withdrawn in January 2012 after its legality was challenged in court. The Government subsequently undertook to issue a new circular, which is, to date, still pending. 41. Many recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission related to land issues, including ensuring that State policy on land is not used as an instrument to effect unnatural changes in the demographic pattern of a given province, were assigned in the national plan of action to a body yet to be established, namely, a fourth land commission, to be appointed under the Ministry of Lands (paras. 9.124, 9.126, 9.128129 and 9.131-136). 42. The resolution of land-related issues is essential to attaining durable solutions for internally displaced persons. Some of the main land-related challenges include loss or damage to documentation, competing claims, landlessness, land grabs and secondary occupation by civilians. The lack of clarity on the Government’s approach and policy in 12