E/C.12/GC/26 alternative accommodation and social services to guarantee them an adequate standard of living. 51. In many post-conflict situations, land restitution programmes, even if successful, might be insufficient to prevent new conflicts and to guarantee rights under the Covenant to refugees and internally displaced persons, as such populations were often living in poverty and excluded from land rights before the conflict. In these circumstances, land restitution or compensation alone are insufficient as they would not lift refugees and internally displaced persons out of poverty or reduce social and gender inequality in land tenure. In such contexts, reparations for victims of internal displacement or violence should go beyond restitution. They should be transformative reparations,63 in the sense that they should include policies and measures aimed at reducing inequality and improving those persons’ standard of living. Specific measures should be taken to improve gender equality in land tenure, for instance, by giving preference to women when granting land rights. In addition, States should make efforts to ensure that land restitution programmes include rural reform policies that involve technical, financial and educational support for beneficiaries. B. Corruption 52. Land administration is one of the areas in which corruption can be most pervasive. Corruption occurs and has a negative impact in the demarcation of land and in the rolling out of titling schemes; in the design of land use schemes and the identification of land as “underutilized” or “vacant”; in the use of “public purpose” or “eminent domain” provisions to justify expropriation from land; and in the selling or leasing out of land to investors by Governments. States shall build up proper accountability mechanisms to prevent corruption concerning all relevant land policies and should endeavour to prevent corruption in all forms, at all levels and in all settings.64 States should regularly review and monitor policy, legal and organizational frameworks to maintain their effectiveness. Implementing agencies and judicial authorities should engage with civil society, user representatives and the wider public to improve services and endeavour to prevent corruption through transparent processes and decision-making.65 States should do so particularly through consultation, participation and respect for the rule of law and the principles of transparency and accountability. 66 53. C. Human rights defenders 54. The situation of human rights defenders is particularly difficult in conflicts over land.67 The Committee has regularly received reports of threats and attacks aimed at those seeking to protect their rights under the Covenant or those of others, often in the form of harassment, criminalization, defamation and killings, particularly in the context of extractive 63 64 65 66 67 GE.23-00043 Rodrigo Uprimny Yepes, “Transformative reparations of massive gross human rights violations: between corrective and distributive justice”, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, vol. 27, No. 4 (2009). Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, para. 3.1 (5). Ibid., para. 5.8. The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security include recommendations specific to all components of land governance, such as recording of land rights, valuation of land and adoption of land planning schemes. Similarly, the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems refer to the need to respect “the rule and application of law, free of corruption” (principle 9) and to the United Nations Convention against Corruption as relevant for the implementation of the principles. See Human Rights Council resolution 31/32 on protecting human rights defenders, whether individuals, groups or organs of society, addressing economic, social and cultural rights; and the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. 15