A/69/266 serious rights violations. In Sri Lanka, the United Nations development and humanitarian branches were unable to fully address the United Nations political and human rights priorities. Failures identified included a United Nations system that lacked an adequate and shared sense of responsibility for human rights violations; an incoherent internal United Nations crisis-management structure which failed to conceive and executer a coherent strategy in response to early warnings and subsequent human rights and humanitarian law violations against civilians; the ineffective dispersal of United Nations Headquarters structures to coordinate United Nations action and to address international human rights and humanitarian law violations across several different United Nations Headquarters entities in Geneva and New York; a model for United Nations action in the field that was designed for a development rather than a conflict response; and inadequate political support from Member States as a whole. 27 85. The Sri Lanka experience contributed to the development of the Secretary General’s “Rights up front” initiative which seeks to ensure better organizational preparedness to meet the challenges of safeguarding human rights and protecting civilians in complex crises. VIII. Essential elements of post-violence responses and transitional justice 86. Essential to immediate post-violence responses and the prevention of further violence is the provision of full assistance to affected communities, including humanitarian assistance, the institution of appropriate security measures to ensure protection, and a full and independent investigation of incidents of violence. Such measures must be urgently implemented, where necessary with the assistance of regional bodies and the international community where the capacity of governments is inadequate or where they are implicated as perpetrators of violence. In the short term, dialogue with communities is vital to understanding the needs of affected communities and to building confidence. Measures to ensure the secure return to their homes of those displaced by violence must be undertaken at the earliest opportunity to avoid long-term displacement. 87. Accountability and tackling impunity for violent crimes are essential to ensuring justice and post-violence reconciliation. Transitional justice requires that the truth about the past be investigated and told, the provision of compensation for material and immaterial losses, the return to societal stability and the restoration of full respect for human rights. Perpetrators on all sides must be held accountable as a means of rebuilding societies damaged and fractured by violence and as a deterrent to further violence. Justice and accountability may be achieved in various ways, which can include truth, justice and reconciliation processes; commissions of inquiry; judicial processes; and incorporation of traditional forms of resolution and reconciliation. Such mechanisms have demonstrated an ability to begin a process of healing the wounds inflicted on communities and societies in such cases as Rwanda, South Africa and Northern Ireland. __________________ 27 22/24 Report of the Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on United Nations Action in Sri Lanka. Available from www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/The_Internal_Review_Panel_report_ on_Sri_Lanka.pdf. 14-58850