PART 2.3 to consular access and support is especially important for trafficked persons who have been arrested, detained or charged with an offence. Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, States parties are required to assist non-citizens who have been detained to contact consular officials from their country of citizenship. Specifically: [if the individual concerned] so requests, the competent authorities of the receiving State shall, without delay, inform the consular post of the sending State if, within its consular district, a national of that State is arrested or committed to prison or to custody pending trial, or is detained in any other manner. Any communication addressed to the consular post by the person arrested, in prison, custody or detention shall be forwarded by the said authorities without delay. The said authorities shall inform the person concerned without delay of his rights under this sub-paragraph (art. 36 (1)(b)). The International Court of Justice has, on three recent occasions, examined the implications of this paragraph from the perspective of individual rights.298 In the LaGrand case, the court held that the Vienna Convention “creates an individual right to certain forms of consular assistance and does not merely regulate the rights and duties of States parties”.299 Under the provisions of this Case Concerning the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (Paraguay v. United States of America), Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures (1998) ICJ Reports 248; LaGrand case (Germany v. United States of America), Merits (2001) ICJ Reports 466; Avena and Other Mexican Nations (Mexico v. United States of America), Merits (2004) ICJ Reports 12. See also The Right to Information on Consular Assistance in the Framework of the Guarantees of the Due Process of Law (Advisory Opinion) (Solicitud de Opinión Consultiva presentada por el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos) InterAmerican Court of Human Rights OC-16/99 (1997). 298 LaGrand case (Germany v. United States of America), Merits (2001) ICJ Reports 466, as summarized in 299 140 instrument and on the basis of this judgment, trafficked persons who have been arrested and/ or detained by the country of destination for any reason have the right to be informed of, as well as to seek and receive, consular assistance from their country of citizenship. The Migrant Workers Convention also specifies that, where a migrant worker is detained, the consular or diplomatic staff of his or her State of origin shall be informed without delay of the arrest and the reasons for it.300 Guideline 6.3 implicitly recognizes that effective consular support requires informed and committed consular staff. It is especially important for consular officials to understand the trafficking phenomenon and how it affects their nationals. Consular officials should also be aware of the rights of victims of trafficking, including their right to not be detained arbitrarily. A failure to provide the consular assistance to which an individual is entitled is a breach of international law, invoking the international legal responsibility of the offending State.301 SEE FURTHER: • Right to a remedy: part 2.4, sections 17.117.6 • Detention of child victims of trafficking: part 2.3, section 10.4 • Freedom of movement: part 2.1, section 3.3 Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Progress report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr David Weissbrodt, on the rights of non-citizens – United Nations activities (E/CN.4/ Sub.2/2002/25/Add.1, para. 71). 300 Migrant Workers Convention, art. 16 (7)(a). See Case Concerning the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (Paraguay v. United States of America); LaGrand case (Germany v. United States of America); Avena and Other Mexican Nations (Mexico v. United States of America). See also John Quigley, “The law of State responsibility and the right to consular access”, Willamette Journal of International Law and Dispute Resolution, vol. 11 (2003), p. 39. 301 RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING