A/HRC/35/27 52. On 25 January 2017, the Special Rapporteur began consultations on this issue by convening an expert discussion on the participation of internally displaced persons, with relevant United Nations and international NGO partners active on this issue. This served to further her understanding of the issues and challenges and allowed her to obtain the views of key partners and consider positive practices. She will continue to seek positive examples from all regions that she can promote for possible use in other displacement situations. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur recognizes that international advocacy efforts to promote the rights of internally displaced persons benefit from the actual participation of internally displaced persons. However, internally displaced persons are rarely present in such forums, and she will encourage and advocate for their participation in such regional and international events. B. Ensuring the inclusion of internally displaced persons in transitional justice processes 53. To fully achieve durable solutions for internally displaced persons, they must receive justice for the harm done to them, the human rights violations and the loss of life and property, through processes that go beyond their physical return, local integration or resettlement. The Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons recognizes that “this may entail the right to reparation, justice, truth and closure for past injustices through transitional justice or other appropriate measures”, and that “internally displaced persons who have been victims of violations of international human rights or humanitarian law, including arbitrary displacement, must have full and non-discriminatory access to effective remedies and access to justice, including, where appropriate, access to existing transitional justice mechanisms, reparations and information on the causes of violations”.15 54. In numerous internal displacement situations, internally displaced persons do not obtain justice or achieve only partial redress or reparations for the human rights violations that they have suffered, including for loss of housing, land or property. A first challenge will be to address the absence of any transitional justice mechanisms in some post-conflict situations, where such mechanisms are essential to achieve redress for internally displaced persons and other affected populations. Even where such mechanisms exist, fully incorporating internally displaced persons’ issues is often perceived as complex and costly. Transitional justice processes have traditionally addressed a too narrow range of the serious civil and political rights violations while relatively neglecting internally displaced persons. 55. Truth commissions and criminal prosecution of perpetrators also form key elements of transitional justice. The experience of forced displacement often encompasses massive human rights abuses, prior to, during and in the aftermath of the displacement, the legacy of which continues while persons remain in displacement and even after they have achieved physical return, resettlement or integration elsewhere. Internally displaced persons must be included in community reconciliation and social cohesion projects, which form important elements of peacebuilding initiatives and from which they are frequently excluded. The understanding that internally displaced persons have the right to participate fully in transitional justice mechanisms and peacebuilding processes must be reinforced, as must the responsibility of governments to guarantee their participation and to ensure that transitional justice is achieved for them in practice. 56. The Special Rapporteur recognizes the important work already undertaken, including research and case studies conducted by the International Center for Transitional Justice and the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, among other contributions. 16 Equally, international standards, such as the principles on housing and 15 16 14 See www.unhcr.org/50f94cd49.pdf. The former Special Rapporteur held joint sessions with the truth, justice and reconciliation commissions in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire to hear testimonies from internally displaced persons during his official missions, in September 2011 and July 2012 respectively.