PART 2.2 6.2. THE OBLIGATION TO IDENTIFY AND ERADICATE PUBLIC-SECTOR INVOLVEMENT IN TRAFFICKING Principle 6 is in two parts. The first part reiterates the State’s duty to exercise due diligence to eradicate public-sector involvement in trafficking. Public-sector involvement may, as noted above, be through direct participation by Government officials in trafficking, or through complicity and connivance in the traffickingrelated crimes of non-State actors. The second part of Principle 6, which requires States to take action against public officials who are suspected of direct or indirect involvement in trafficking, imposes procedural obligations as well as substantive ones. The obligation to investigate public officials as well as non-State actors suspected of involvement in trafficking is reaffirmed in Principle 13 and related guidelines. Principle 6 is supplemented by Guideline 4.3, which identifies offences committed or involving complicity by State officials as “aggravating circumstances” warranting additional penalties. The Trafficking Principles and Guidelines also point out that complicity in trafficking by law enforcement officials obstructs victim involvement in criminal prosecutions and note that “[s]trong measures need to be taken to ensure that such involvement is investigated, prosecuted and punished” (Guideline 5). to criminalize all forms of corrupt practices and ensure their laws are harmonized so as to facilitate cooperation.233 States parties are required to adopt measures designed to promote integrity and to prevent and punish corruption of public officials. States parties must also take measures to ensure effective action by domestic authorities in the prevention, detection and punishment of the corruption of public officials, including providing such authorities with adequate independence to deter the exertion of inappropriate influence on their actions (arts. 9 (1) and (2)). Both the European Trafficking Convention and the SAARC Convention recognize public-sector complicity in trafficking as an aggravated offence warranting relatively harsher penalties.234 Many international and regional policy documents confirm the link between trafficking and corruption and the need for States to respond effectively.235 The obligation to investigate acts or omissions by public officials is reiterated in the range of instruments relating to violence against women considered throughout this Commentary.236 The General Assembly has also sought to protect trafficked persons against further harm by calling upon Governments to penalize persons 233 See further ibid., paras. 163-192. European Trafficking Convention, art. 24 (c); SAARC Convention, art. IV. 234 General Assembly resolutions 61/144 (para. 10) and 59/166 (para. 9); Brussels Declaration, para. 19; EU Plan on Best Practices, para. 4(x); OSCE Action Plan, Recommendation III(1.7); Ouagadougou Action Plan, pp. 1-2; OAS Recommendations on Trafficking in Persons, Section II(18). 235 The need to identify and eradicate public-sector involvement in trafficking is widely accepted in international law and policy. The Organized Crime Convention, for example, acknowledges the strong link between organized criminal activities such as trafficking and corruption.232 Its article 8 requires States to take strong measures Legislative Guides to the Organized Crime Convention and its Protocols, Part 1, paras. 163-165. 232 118 See, for example, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 19, para. 9; Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, para. 4 (c); Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, para. 124; Beijing +5 Outcome Document, para. 13; Inter-American Convention on Violence against Women, art. 7 (b). 236 RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING