PART 2.1 Under a human rights-based approach, every aspect of the national, regional and international response to trafficking is anchored in the rights and obligations established by international human rights law. The lessons learned in developing and applying a human rights-based approach in other areas, such as development, provide important insights into the main features of the approach and how it could be applied to trafficking. The key points that can be drawn from these experiences include the following:68 • As policies and programmes are formulated, their main objective should be to promote and protect rights; • A human rights-based approach identifies rights-holders (for example trafficked persons, individuals at risk of being trafficked, individuals accused or convicted of traffickingThis section is drawn from Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Frequently Asked Questions on a Human Rights-based Approach to International Development Cooperation (HR/PUB/06/8). For more on the history and application of rights-based approaches and justifications for them, see Mac Darrow and Amparo Tomas, “Power, capture, and conflict: a call for human rights accountability in development cooperation”, Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 27, No. 2 (May 2005), p. 471. 68 50 related offences) and their entitlements and the corresponding duty-bearers (usually States) and their obligations. This approach works towards strengthening the capacity of rightsholders to secure their rights and of dutybearers to meet their obligations; and • Core principles and standards derived from international human rights law (such as equality and non-discrimination, the universality of all rights, and the rule of law) should guide all aspects of the response at all stages. The three Principles and related guidelines that come under the heading “The primacy of human rights” provide a conceptual and legal umbrella for the document as a whole. This means that all other Principles and Guidelines must be interpreted and applied with reference to the rights and obligations set out in these first three Principles. The primacy of human rights is itself an overarching principle that applies throughout all interventions in the trafficking cycle and must guide the behaviour of all those involved, including State agents such as law-enforcement, immigration and prosecutorial and judicial personnel as well as both governmental and nongovernmental service providers. RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING