8.5. PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CARE AND SUPPORT Principle 8 requires States to ensure that victims of trafficking have access to adequate physical and psychological care. It is supplemented by a number of Guidelines that focus on specific elements of such care and support. Guidelines 6.1 and 6.2, for example, request States and others to consider ensuring, along with nongovernmental organizations, the availability of “safe and adequate shelter that meets the needs of trafficked persons” and “access to primary health care and counselling”. Principle 8 and the Guidelines cited above must be read in light of the overriding principle that places the protection of human rights at the centre of any measures taken to prevent and end trafficking. This approach requires States to ensure that the rights of trafficked persons are protected and respected. In the present context, the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health318 and the right to adequate food, clothing and housing319 are especially relevant. It is also important to keep International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 12; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 12; Migrant Workers Convention, art. 28; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 5 (e) (iv); Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 24. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has asserted the obligation of States parties to respect the right to health of all persons, including especially vulnerable groups such as asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants: Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment 14 (2000): The right to the highest attainable standard of health. 318 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 11; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 5 (e) (iii); Trafficking Protocol, art. 6 (3)(a); Refugee Convention, art. 21; Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, arts. 15, 16; SAARC Convention, art. IX (3); Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 19, para. 24 (t) (iii); Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, para. 125 (a). 319 in mind that certain victims of trafficking may have special status-related rights. For example, as explored in detail below under the discussion of Principle 10 and related Guidelines, specific and additional obligations of care and support are owed by States to child victims of trafficking. The prohibition on sex-based discrimination is especially relevant when considering access to support and assistance. Women victims of trafficking are victims of gender-based violence and therefore entitled to access support and assistance on this basis, as well as on the basis of their status as victims of trafficking.320 Persons with a disability who are victims of trafficking will also be entitled to a level of protection and support that recognizes that disability.321 The nature of the obligation on States to provide care and support for victims of trafficking is also inextricably tied up with their status as victims of crime and victims of human rights violations. This status, as noted above, gives such victims the right to be treated with humanity and respect for their dignity and human rights, as well as an entitlement to benefit from measures that ensure their well-being and prevent re-victimization.322 More specifically, victims of crime are entitled to receive “the necessary material, medical, See, for example, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 19, para. 24 (b): “[a]ppropriate protective and support services should be provided for victims”. See also art. 4 (g) of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, which makes provision for specialized assistance for women subjected to violence, such as “rehabilitation, assistance in child care and maintenance, treatment, counselling, and health and social services, facilities and programmes, as well as support structures, and … other appropriate measures to promote their safety and physical and psychological rehabilitation.” See also Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, paras. 99, 106, 107, 122, 125, 130; and Beijing +5 Outcome Document, para. 97 (c). 320 See generally the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 321 Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation, para. 10. 322 COMMENTARY 147