PART 2.3 and intimidation. Unlike with many other crimes, the threat to a victim does not end once she or he has escaped or been rescued from a criminal situation. In some cases, for example in situations where the victim is in contact with the criminal justice system, freedom from a trafficking situation can actually exacerbate the risks to that person’s safety and well-being, as already mentioned above. The Trafficking Principles and Guidelines specifically refer (in Principle 8) to the responsibility of States to “protect trafficked persons from further exploitation and harm” (see also Principle 2), as well as the need for States and others to “ensure that trafficked persons are effectively protected from harm, threats or intimidation by traffickers and associated persons”. What do the main treaties say about protection from further harm? The Trafficking Protocol requires each State party to “endeavour to provide for the physical safety of victims of trafficking in persons while they are within its territory” (art. 6.5). While this provision is limited by the soft nature of the obligation and the specific reference to physical safety, it nevertheless obliges States parties “to actually take at least some steps that amount to an ‘endeavour’ to protect safety”.307 Importantly, the provisions of the Protocol on this point are supplementary to the stronger victim protection provisions contained in its parent instrument, the Organized Crime Convention. The relevant provisions of the Organized Crime Convention require States parties to provide witnesses with protection from potential retaliation or intimidation (art. 24). They also require States parties to take appropriate measures, within their means, “to provide assistance and protection to victims [of trafficking], in particular in cases of threats of retaliation or intimidation” (Guideline 6.6). Legislative Guides to the Organized Crime Convention and its Protocols, Part 2, para. 59. 307 144 The European Trafficking Convention contains a general obligation on States parties to “take due account of the victim’s safety and protection needs” (art. 12 (2)).308 This requirement is supplemented by a detailed provision that sets out the specific measures that must be implemented to provide victims and others (including witnesses and victim support agencies) with “effective and appropriate protection” from potential retaliation and intimidation, in particular during and after the investigation and prosecution processes (art. 28). The Optional Protocol on the sale of children also contains specific provisions on protection from further harm that would be applicable to certain child victims of trafficking (arts. 8 (1)(f) and 8 (5)). In Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia, the European Court of Human Rights recently considered the issue of protection in relation to both actual and potential cases of trafficking. The Court held that “in order for a positive obligation to take operational measures [such as to protect] to arise in the circumstances of a particular case, it must be demonstrated that the State authorities were aware, or ought to have been aware, of circumstances giving rise to a credible suspicion that an identified individual had been, or was at real and immediate risk of being, trafficked or exploited within the meaning of article 3 (a) of the Palermo Protocol and article 4 (a) of the AntiTrafficking Convention. In the case of an answer in the affirmative, there will be a violation of article 4 of the Convention where the authorities fail to take appropriate measures within the scope of their powers to remove the individual from that situation or risk” (para. 286). Various “soft law” instruments and documents support the obligation to protect victims of trafficking from further harm. Resolutions of the General Assembly and Human Rights Council Note that this provision will also apply to victims who have only provisionally been identified as such: art. 10 (2). 308 RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING