the Child (UNCRC), which includes an Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2000). In the sphere of soft law, the UN’s landmark guidance documents include the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking (hereafter: OHCHR Trafficking Principles) of 2002, as well as the 2006 UNICEF Guidelines on The Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking (hereafter: UNICEF Trafficking Guidelines) and the 2006 UNHCR Guidelines on international protection in relation to the UN Refugee Convention’s applicability to trafficked persons and those at risk of being trafficked (hereafter: UNHCR Trafficking Guidelines). Furthermore, UN agencies such as UNODC and UNICEF have developed other relevant materials, including model laws and background papers, to assist states in improving their implementation of international standards and commitments. The second organization to have developed international legal standards is the Council of Europe, which, in the field of human trafficking, has developed the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (hereafter: Council of Europe Trafficking Convention), and the more broadly applicable European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) of 1950. The third, and perhaps the most elaborate, set of standards on the subject comes from the EU, most notably the 2011 Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (hereafter: EU Trafficking Directive). Of similar importance are the 2011 Directive of the European Parliament and Council on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted (hereafter: EU Qualification Directive), and the 2004 EU Council Directive on the residence permit issued to third-country nationals who are victims of trafficking in human beings or who have been the subject of an action to facilitate illegal immigration, who cooperate with the competent authorities. In 2008, ODIHR commissioned a series of papers on the return of trafficked persons and undocumented migrants from Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom to their countries of origin, to examine the different aspects of the process and its overall compliance with human rights standards and OSCE commitments. This was followed by ODIHR-supported fact-finding missions to Albania, Nigeria, Serbia and Ukraine in 2010 to gather information on the role of state authorities and civil society in the return and reintegration of trafficked persons and irregular migrants. In June 2009, ODIHR hosted its first expert meeting with international and national stakeholders to map the problems, human rights standards and appropriate procedures applicable to the return process. In April 2010, a second meeting was conducted with the participation of government authorities and civil society actors from both destination and origin countries to exchange experiences on the return of victims of trafficking. 14 Guiding Principles on Human Rights in the Return of Trafficked Persons