A/HRC/16/42 33. In the wake of Hurricane Mitch, a combination of factors militated against satisfying the most basic housing needs of the affected Honduran population, much less the full realization of their right to adequate housing. Most analyses of post-Mitch responses conclude that both the country’s government and the national emergency management system (as represented by its main agency, COPECO) were not adequately prepared to respond to the need of the victims. On the positive side, Hurricane Mitch led to the arrival of significant human and financial resources. Post-disaster housing response initiatives represented unprecedented opportunities to “build back better 36 ”. In particular, many women gained access to land and participation through some of these donor-funded responses who insisted that the deeds to all reconstructed houses bear the names of the female spouses (instead of the males), which was justified by the assumption that “women won’t sell”. Other projects compromised by proposing that post-disaster housing be registered under joint title and then established as family patrimony. 34. A number of successful rehabilitation and reconstruction initiatives in Honduras, where undisputed land was available at a reasonable distance from livelihood opportunities and facilities, illustrated how settlement development could be an appropriate means to support disaster-affected populations and introduce better practices in areas such as site planning, house design, use and production of building materials, water supply and sanitation and environmental protection. Cases such as El Progreso and Choluteca also included direct involvement by local authorities working in collaborating with other support institutions as well as members of the beneficiary community, all with the help of unprecedented levels of support from donors and relief organizations. 35. The post-Hurricane Mitch period also saw development in the legal framework related to land and housing issues, though the judicial system remained weak and so the potential benefits of the new legislation remained inaccessible to the poor. Missing from the current strategy in Honduras is a comprehensive programme to increase the supply of urbanized land and improve tenure security for the poor and the marginalized. C. Consultation and participation 36. The long-term success of post-disaster and post-conflict responses to a great extent depends on a properly informed understanding of the local context. It also requires high levels of consultation with and direct involvement of the people directly affected in the process of relief and reconstruction within that context. With respect to the right to adequate housing and displacement, this specifically includes those people with less formalized land use and occupation rights. 37. Given the urgent, crisis nature of post-conflict and post-disaster situations, the approach of collecting and analysing detailed information, and of direct participation by the people affected, may seem difficult to achieve. This approach is likely to contradict powerful humanitarian and political pressures that emphasize speedy resettlement, rebuilding and re-housing. In post-conflict and post-disaster situations, “quick wins” easily become equated with rapid physical delivery, often with scant consideration, or even awareness, of possible counterproductive longer-term consequences. Getting “policy choices” right in the field of land and housing requires, in normal circumstances, the undertaking of complex analytical processes. In the midst of crises, the need for speedy decisions and practical livelihood support-oriented action may run counter to the need for caution and for intensive consultation with those directly affected. 36 12 K. J. Abhas, et al., Safer homes, Stronger Communities; C.W. Gould, “The Right to Housing Recovery after Natural Disasters”, in Harvard Human Rights Journal. Vol. 22, Issue 2 (2010)..