PART 1 use as a checklist against which laws, policies and interventions can be measured. The Principles are organized under four headings: 1. 2. 3. 4. The primacy of human rights Preventing trafficking Protection and assistance Criminalization, punishment and redress The Principles included under the first heading are applicable to interventions at all stages of the trafficking cycle: recruitment, transport and subjection to exploitation. The Principles included under the three subsequent headings identify the object and parameters of intervention at different times in the cycle of trafficking: preventive measures before a person becomes trafficked; measures for the protection of and assistance to persons who have become trafficked; and criminal and civil proceedings. The second part of the document contains a series of 11 Guidelines, most of which relate back to and expand upon one or more of the Trafficking Principles. Unlike the Trafficking Principles, the Guidelines are not intended to be prescriptive but rather to provide practical direction to States, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and others on the steps that can be taken to ensure that the key Principles are translated into effective and realistic responses. 16 1.3. LEGAL STATUS The Trafficking Principles and Guidelines are not contained in a treaty or similar instrument that is capable of giving rise to immediate legal obligation. As such, this instrument does not enjoy the force of law and cannot, on its own, be identified as or become a source of obligation for States. However, this does not mean that the Trafficking Principles and Guidelines are without legal significance. As the Commentary will demonstrate, certain aspects of the Trafficking Principles and Guidelines: (i) are based upon established customary rules of public international law to which all States are bound, including those relating to State responsibility and fundamental human rights; and/or (ii) reiterate, or make specific to the context of trafficking, norms contained in existing international agreements. To the extent that parts of the Trafficking Principles and Guidelines embody an existing rule of international law, then those parts are themselves a source of legal obligation for States. It is also important to note that the Trafficking Principles and Guidelines establish a framework for State practice that may itself provide the basis for emergent customary international law. The Commentary seeks to provide clear direction on the issue of legal status by identifying those aspects of the Trafficking Principles and Guidelines that can be tied to established international legal rights and obligations. RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING