FOREWORD Over the past decade, human trafficking has moved from the margins to the mainstream of international concern. During this period we have witnessed the rapid development of a comprehensive legal framework that comprises international and regional treaties, as well as a broad range of soft-law instruments relating to trafficking. These changes confirm that a fundamental shift has taken place in how the international community thinks about human exploitation. It also confirms a change in our expectations of what Governments and others should be doing to deal with trafficking and to prevent it. My Office has been at the forefront of efforts to promote a human rights-based approach to trafficking. As this Commentary makes clear, such an approach requires understanding of the ways in which human rights violations arise throughout the trafficking cycle and of the ways in which States’ obligations arise under international human rights law. This approach seeks to both identify and redress the discriminatory practices and the unequal distribution of power that underlie trafficking, which maintain impunity for traffickers and deny justice to their victims. On a very practical level, a human rightsbased approach to trafficking requires an acknowledgement that trafficking is, first and foremost, a violation of human rights. Trafficking and the practices with which it is associated, including slavery, sexual exploitation, child labour, forced labour, debt bondage and forced marriage, are themselves violations of the basic human rights to which all persons are entitled. Trafficking disproportionately affects those whose rights may already be seriously compromised, including women, children, migrants, refugees and persons with disabilities. A human rights approach to trafficking also demands that we acknowledge the responsibility of Governments to protect and promote the rights of all persons within their jurisdiction, including non-citizens. This responsibility translates into a legal obligation on Governments to work towards eliminating trafficking and related exploitation. A human rights approach to trafficking means that all those involved in anti-trafficking efforts should integrate human rights into their analysis of the problem and into their responses. This approach requires us to consider, at each and every stage, the impact that a law, policy, practice or measure may have on persons who have been trafficked and persons who are vulnerable to being trafficked. It means rejecting responses that compromise rights and freedoms. 3