Human Rights as Roma, are often not integrated into antitrafficking initiatives. Current identification and assistance strategies need to be examined, more opportunities to self-identify provided, and gaps stopped. Finally, although most OSCE participating States have adopted anti-trafficking legislation in keeping with their commitments under the Palermo Protocol, many trafficked persons do not seek justice for violations of their human rights. In many states, they do not benefit from legal representation or witness protection and can be detained and returned to countries where their safety is jeopardized and they are at risk of being re-trafficked. All these factors contribute to undermining action to encourage the claiming and implementation of trafficked persons’ rights, and they need to be tackled. Establishing National Referral Mechanisms A starting point for much of the ODIHR’s work in promoting a human rights approach to trafficking is a series of National Referral Mechanism assessments in the OSCE region. The aim of such assessments is to evaluate national antitrafficking structures alongside policies and practices on the identification of trafficked persons, the protection of their rights, and their access to justice. The recommendations provided under the OSCE Action Plan and in the ODIHR’s handbook on National Referral Mechanisms provide the main criteria against which these evaluations are made. This work builds on experience from previous assessments conducted under the SEE Rights project, the final report from which was published in 2005, with a geographic focus on South-Eastern Europe. Lessons learned from that project and other referral mechanism assessments have contributed to the design of the current activity. Assessments have been completed or are currently underway in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Efforts are also being made to ensure that those responsible for anti-trafficking action from both the governmental and non-govern- 60 mental sectors will act on the findings from these assessments. In Kazakhstan, the assessment of anti-trafficking structures was presented at a roundtable in September, gathering relevant governmental and civil society participants who had participated as interviewees for the research. Opportunities were given over the course of the two days to contribute to the analysis of the findings and develop recommendations. These recommendations contributed directly to the drafting of Kazakhstan’s National Action Plan. To further consolidate an understanding of the human rights approach, a three-day training course was designed with the collaboration of La Strada Moldova for law enforcement and NGOs on good practices in identification and referral of victims. Further training is being planned to build the capacity of Kazakh NGOs in a lobbying and advocacy role in the development of anti-trafficking policy in keeping with the spirit of National Referral Mechanisms. Protection starts with identification and access to assistance The importance of adequate identification and assistance and enhanced co-operation between countries of destination and origin was the focus of an ODIHR conference entitled “Ensuring Human Rights Protection in Countries of Destination: Breaking the Cycle of Trafficking”, held in September 2004. The ODIHR’s current focus on strengthening identification and protection builds on, and draws from, the discussions and practices shared at that conference. In particular, the NRM assessments so far completed have helped to identify gaps in identification and the provision of assistance. In Armenia, a roundtable on victim identification, in October, brought together expertise from the UK on identification and familiarized participants with good practices on identification and referral between law enforcement and NGOs from numerous countries. To ensure that victims of labour exploitation or Roma victims are included in identification and assistance strategies, the ODIHR ANNUAL REPORT 2005