A/HRC/13/21 reparation.38 Reparations can take different forms. In some cases, it may be sufficient to provide restitution by restoring the status quo before displacement. In other cases, especially those involving crimes against humanity, war crimes or ethnic cleansing, victims of arbitrary displacement will also be entitled to monetary compensation. Compensation laws must not arbitrarily differentiate between different types and causes of displacement and must respect the principle of equality before the law. 73. Arbitrary displacement can also be caused by negligence, especially where authorities fail to exercise their obligation to take all reasonable and necessary measures to protect life, physical integrity, health and property from natural disasters. The Representative notes the growing body of law holding authorities accountable for such failures. The European Court of Human Rights has ordered States to pay compensation for having negligently failed to take appropriate measures to protect people from natural or human-made hazards.39 The Kampala Convention also stipulates that States parties are liable to make reparation if they fail to protect and assist internally displaced persons in the event of natural disasters.40 H. Overcoming the politics of protracted displacement 74. In at least 35 countries internally displaced persons find themselves in protracted situations,41 meaning that processes to find durable solutions for them have stalled and the displaced are marginalized, and their rights, in particular economic, social and cultural rights, are not protected. Internally displaced persons in protracted situations often live in inhumane conditions and have no realistic chance of accessing opportunities to earn a living. The Representative has consistently found that the most likely victims of protracted displacement are the most vulnerable within the displaced population and include the elderly, people with disabilities, female-headed households and minorities.42 75. In conflict situations, political factors are often the primary cause of protracted displacement with parties to the conflicts not willing to achieve peace, which would allow the displaced to return. Even after major hostilities have ceased, resolution of the underlying conflict is often frozen and internally displaced persons are at risk of being manipulated as pawns. They cannot return, because they are seen as being associated with the enemy. At the same time, they are often prevented from integrating locally, because political decision makers calculate that continued pressure to return will uphold their territorial claims. 76. The Representative has consistently emphasized that allowing internally displaced persons to normalize their living situation does not in any way extinguish their right to return. On the contrary, people who have regained control of their lives are in a much stronger position to eventually achieve a durable solution, while also posing less of a burden to local communities and social services. The Representative has engaged with the 38 39 40 41 42 18 See General Assembly resolution 60/147 on the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. See also the Kampala Convention, art. 12. European Court of Human Rights, Öneryildiz v. Turkey, application 48939/99, judgement of 30 November 2004; Budayeva and others v. Russia, applications Nos. 15339/02, 21166/02, 20058/02, 11673/02 and 15343/02, judgement of 20 March 2008. See art. 12, para. 3. IDMC, Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2008 (2009). This figure only relates to conflict and violence-related displacement and does not include disaster and development-induced displacement. See e.g. E/CN.4/2006/71/Add.4. GE.10-10161