A/81/339 activity. Community engagement, risk education and transparent prioritization can ensure that clearance reflects community priorities. In the Syrian Arab Republic, returnees help identify hazardous areas for clearance and risk education. 56 In Yemen, risk education campaigns have reached more than 2.5 million persons in settlements and camps hosting internally displaced persons and returnees. 57 Mine action also requires comprehensive victim assistance, including medical care, physical rehabilitation, psychosocial support, socioeconomic reintegration and the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. 58 45. Conflict and disasters also cause extensive environmental damage. Damaged water and sanitation infrastructure, loss of natural and agricultural land and contamination of soil and marine ecosystems by munitions, solid waste and untreated sewage undermine health, food production and livelihoods and increase disaster risks. Debris contaminated with hazardous materials, including asbestos and unexploded ordnance, poses acute health risks and complicates reconstruction. Recovery and reconstruction planning should therefore include early ecological and environmental health assessments and the systematic testing of soil, water and debris. Debris removal should also include safeguards against demolitions that could extinguish housing, land and property claims. 46. Access to decent work and livelihoods is a central component of recovery, 59 yet legal and administrative barriers – including documentation requirements for business registration, land access and employment – disproportionately affect displaced persons who have lost identity documents or whose tenure and residency status is unresolved. Simplified procedures, flexible documentation requirements and legal reforms can ensure non-discriminatory access to employment and business opportunities. The skills of displaced persons may also not be suited to the labour market in the areas where they have settled. In Mozambique, for example, coastal communities displaced inland lost their fishing-based livelihoods while lacking the land, tenure or experience needed for agriculture. 60 Reconstruction programmes should provide tailored skills training, employment services and vocational and financial literacy training, based on local labour markets and the trajectories of displaced persons 61 and designed to be accessible to women and to persons with disabilities. 47. Social protection is another critical dimension of livelihood recovery and the prevention of renewed displacement. Displacement-affected persons working informally are often excluded from contributory social security schemes. Legal and policy reforms should ensure that displaced persons and returnees can enrol in social protection schemes regardless of employment status or location, including through portable benefits, simplified registration and coverage of informal workers. 62 48. Micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises are often the backbone of local economies but face informality, limited finance, disrupted infrastructure and weak market access. Private sector engagement can create shared economic opportunities across displacement-affected groups and strengthen local markets and social cohesion. Under the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework, companies operating in conflict-affected and high-risk areas should conduct __________________ 56 Submission from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining. Submission from Yemen. 58 Submission from the Mine Action Service in Colombia. 59 International Labour Organization (ILO), Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation, 2017 (No. 205). 60 See A/HRC/56/47/Add.1. 61 Submission from the World Bank. 62 ILO, Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202). 57 26-12053 13/24