A/70/334 strategies developed by those bodies. Ideally, line ministries will establish their own internal focal points, departments or units with dedicated responsibility for internally displaced persons to ensure that adequate attention, expertise and resources are provided. 66. Line ministries should review their sectoral laws and policies to ensure that they include internally displaced persons and displacement -affected communities, including their specific rights, needs and vulnerabilities, and adapt laws and policies accordingly so that they are appropriately tailored to the situation. These ministries should review their planning and programming under sectoral laws and policies to ensure that internally displaced persons and displacement-affected communities are able to access and benefit from such programmes on an equal basis with the non-displaced populations. 4. Role of local and other subnational authorities 67. In decentralized or devolved systems, subnational, regional and local authorities often play an essential role in responding to internal displacement. These authorities are often the first point of contact with internally displaced persons and are the ones to which internally displaced persons turn first for assistance. It is therefore critical that local authorities be easily identifiable, have clearly defined responsibilities and be fully included in national coordination mechanisms. As the counterpart of national authorities at a specific location and of internally displaced persons communities themselves, local authorities should participate fully in all decision-making. 68. A joint study on internal displacement in the region of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) found that in decentralized States, “coordination should be vertical as well as horizontal, in the sense that it should not only facilitate decision-making among the various relevant actors at the central level but also ensure that clear guidance, follow-up actions, and information flow smoothly between those actors and regional and/or local coordination bodies ”. 10 National authorities must ensure that local authorities have the necessary resources and expertise to function efficiently and are not overburdened during the response. 5. Interaction with international actors 69. Once internal displacement occurs, authorities can be quickly overwhelmed and can lack resources to respond adequately to the immediate needs. The international community has a complementary role, providing assistance to those in need where States are unable to do so. It is essential that Governments recognize their need for international assistance and facilitate that assistance as quickly as possible. This requires granting full access to humanitarian assistance to all regions affected by displacement and all communities of internally displaced persons. Barriers or restrictions have sometimes been imposed, in particular in conditions of conflict, which can jeopardize the protection of inte rnally displaced persons. 70. During times of emergency, coordination is critical to minimize gaps and overlaps in the delivery of assistance by humanitarian organizations. The cluster approach was introduced in 2005, after the reform of the humanitarian agenda, __________________ 10 18/26 ECOWAS and UNHCR, “Responsibility to respond to internal displacement in the ECOWAS region: case studies of Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Nigeria” (March 2015). 15-12504