A/HRC/4/62 page 15 truth commissions or reparation programmes. While such measures are arguably a crucial part of the necessary reparation for victims of all types of violations and of a comprehensive strategy for the preservation of peace, they have often been neglected.27 42. The issues of sequencing and prioritization should be briefly examined in this context. Resistance to developing specific programmes for implementing economic, social and cultural rights is often based on the assumption that their realization will flow automatically from the enjoyment of civil and political rights, and that any imbalance in the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights could in the long term be corrected by the discipline of market forces in open economies. Truth commissions have shown themselves vulnerable to these assumptions as well: when investigating violations of economic, social and cultural rights, they have generally stopped short of proposing reparations to redress these violations, citing such concerns as feasibility and needs-based prioritization.28 43. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has emphasized that the full realization of human rights is rarely if ever achieved as a mere by-product, or fortuitous consequence, of some other programmes or developments - be it transition to a system of democracy or economic growth (see A/CONF.157/PC/62/Add.5, para. 3).29 The latter, for instance, does not automatically translate into an improvement of the standards of living of specific groups, unless special measures or policies are directed to those ends.30 The Committee further noted: “Just as carefully targeted policies and unremitting vigilance are necessary to ensure that respect for civil and political rights will follow from, for example, the introduction or restoration of an essentially democratic system of government, so too is it essential that specific policies and programmes be devised and implemented by any Government which aims to ensure the respect of the economic, social and cultural rights of its citizens” (A/CONF.157/PC/62/Add.5, para. 4). 44. It is therefore crucial to specifically address violations of economic, social and cultural rights which have been at the root of the conflict or are consequences of it, as soon as the conflict ends. In addition to being a matter of law, addressing socio-economic inequalities between groups as early as possible would also contribute to peacebuilding efforts. Research suggests that once a country has had a civil war it is at greater risk of further war. The typical country reaching the end of a civil war faces around a 44 per cent risk of returning to conflict within five years. Reasons for this high risk seem twofold: the same factors that caused the initial war are usually still present and, in addition, a civil war generally results in the deterioration of all 27 S/2004/616, para. 4. 28 See e.g. Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste, Part 11: Recommendations, final report, pp. 40-41. 29 See also Human Development Report 2000: Human Rights and Human Development, chapters 2 and 4, at http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2000/en. 30 Human Development Report 2000, ibid., pp. 80-82.