Introduction The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights’ approach to trafficking responses, including return, recognizes trafficking as a criminal activity with profound human rights implications for trafficked persons, as well as for states and civil society organizations. In line with this human rights-based approach, every aspect of the national or international response to trafficking is anchored in rights and obligations established by international human rights law. The OSCE commitments address a broad spectrum of issues relevant to the prevention of trafficking, the protection of victims and the prosecution of the perpetrators of trafficking, while a number of commitments relate to the return of trafficked persons.7 In particular, the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Trafficking translates the OSCE commitments into concrete recommendations for participating States to implement at the national level in the areas of investigation, law enforcement and prosecution, prevention, protection and assistance. In addition to these commitments, OSCE participating States are also signatories to other relevant standards in international law. The three main international and supranational organizations to have developed legal standards on the subject of trafficking in human beings are the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe and the European Union (EU). The UN established new standards in the field with the 2000 United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the Convention (hereafter: UN Trafficking Protocol). In addition, earlier standards that paved the way for the current international legal framework for the return of trafficked persons include the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (hereafter: UN Refugee Convention) and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of 7  These commitments include the following: OSCE Ministerial Council Decision No.1/2000 on Enhancing the OSCE’s Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings (2000); the OSCE Declaration on Trafficking in Human Beings (2002); the 2003 OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings (hereafter: OSCE Action Plan); Ministerial Council Decision No. 8/07 on Combating Trafficking In Human Beings For Labour Exploitation (2007); Ministerial Council Decision No. 13/05 (2005) endorsing the Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings: Addressing the Special Needs of Child Victims of Trafficking for Protection and Assistance (hereafter: 2005 Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan); Ministerial Council Decision No. 14/06 on Enhancing Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Including for Labour Exploitation, Through A comprehensive and Proactive Approach (2006); Ministerial Council Decision No. 5/08 on Enhancing Criminal Justice Responses to Trafficking in Human Beings through a Comprehensive Approach (2008); and ,most recently, Ministerial Council Decision 7/13 (2013) endorsing the second Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan marking the decade from its adoption (hereafter: 2013 Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan). Guiding Principles on Human Rights in the Return of Trafficked Persons 13