A/81/339 planned relocation may be used as a last resort underpinned by clear legal and policy frameworks, community participation, inclusive planning and adequate financing. 27 24. Dignity implies that internally displaced persons can resume a life recognizable as their own, one in which they can meet their material needs, re-establish meaningful relationships, sustain themselves and their families, participate in community life and restore a sense of belonging and purpose. In reconstruction, this includes restoration of cultural heritage, places of worship and memory, and the social fabric that sustains community life, as well as truth-seeking and clarifying the fate of missing persons, without which families cannot resolve their own displacement. Access to decent work and livelihoods helps restore self-worth, autonomy and a stake in the communities where displaced persons settle. Dignity also has a critical psychosocial dimension: trauma, loss and distrust in institutions may prevent people from rebuilding their lives even where physical conditions have been restored, making mental health and psychosocial support a central component of dignified solutions. It also requires respecting agency throughout reconstruction and ensuring the meaningful and safe participation of those facing intersecting forms of discrimination, including women, children, young people, older persons, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and minorities. 25. Reconstruction should be grounded in comprehensive, displacement-sensitive needs assessments, including post-disaster needs assessments and recovery and peacebuilding assessments, to identify the scale of destruction and priorities, and inform evidence-based recovery in line with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Framework. Assessments should include household and community -level analysis, disaggregated by sex, age and disability, and account for intersecting forms of discrimination. Internally displaced persons should meaningfully participate in defining benchmarks for durable solutions, informed by up-to-date independent information on ongoing monitoring, and should not be encouraged to pursue particular settlement options before they can safely do so. 28 B. Participation 26. The meaningful participation of internally displaced persons in the design and implementation of reconstruction is necessary for durable outcomes and operates as a displacement prevention safeguard: exclusion from reconstruction decision -making can reproduce the inequalities, grievances and distrust that contributed to displacement in the first place. Internally displaced persons are nonetheless frequently treated as beneficiaries rather than rights-holders and decision-makers, 29 resulting in participation remaining insufficient, tokenistic or entirely absent. 27. Structural barriers hinder participation. Internally displaced persons may lack civil documentation or proof of housing, land and property, limiting their access to formal processes and their ability to assert claims or register for reconstruction assistance. Distance may hamper participation for those outside the capitals where reconstruction processes unfold. Participation is further constrained by the absence of institutional consultation mechanisms, discrimination, security risks and fear of retaliation, as well as poverty and marginalization. 30 Language barriers, limited digital access, unfamiliarity with bureaucratic procedures and the complexity of __________________ 27 See https://globalprotectioncluster.org/sites/default/files/2025 -11/ipeg_commentary_planned_ relocations_final.pdf. 28 Confidential submission from international NGO/NGO. 29 Submission from Mouyad Al-Ekhwan. 30 Submissions from Open Doors and World Evangelical Alliance. 8/24 26-12053