direct victim and persons who have suffered harm in intervening to assist victims in distress or to prevent victimization.261 The Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation also confirm that a person is to be considered a victim irrespective of whether the perpetrator of the violation is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted and regardless of the familial relationship between the perpetrator and the victim (para. 9). This instrument further confirms that victims have a right to be treated with humanity and respect for their dignity and human rights and that measures should be taken to ensure their wellbeing and avoid re-victimization (para. 10) – a likely consequence of criminalization. 7.3. PROSECUTION FOR STATUS-RELATED OFFENCES Principle 7 is clear that trafficked persons should not be charged or prosecuted for offences that have been committed in the course of their being trafficked. Principle 7 is supplemented by Guideline 2.5, which, in the context of the need for trafficked persons to be identified quickly and accurately, calls on States and others to ensure that “trafficked persons are not prosecuted for violations of immigration laws or for the activities they are involved in as a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons.” Guideline 4.5 also considers the issue of prosecution for status-related offences with reference to the need for an adequate legal framework, requiring States to consider ensuring that “legislation prevents trafficked persons from being prosecuted, detained or punished for the illegality of their entry or residence or Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation, General Assembly resolution 60/147, para. 8. 261 for the activities they are involved in as a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons.” The Trafficking Protocol does not specifically address the issue of prosecution for status-related offences. However, the body established to make recommendations on the effective implementation of the Protocol has recently affirmed that: “States parties should … [c]onsider, in line with their domestic legislation, not punishing or prosecuting trafficked persons for unlawful acts committed by them as a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons, or where they were compelled to commit such unlawful acts.”262 Developments since the adoption of the Protocol are a further indication that the standard set out in the Trafficking Principles and Guidelines is receiving increased support. Article 26 of the European Trafficking Convention, for example, requires States parties, in accordance with the basic principles of their legal systems, to: provide for the possibility of not imposing penalties on victims for their involvement in unlawful activities, to the extent that they have been compelled to do so.263 This provision is narrower than that set out in the Trafficking Principles and Guidelines, in that it would prevent only the punishment of a trafficked person for a status-related offence, not their arrest, prosecution or conviction. Nevertheless, as the first – and, at present, the only – treaty-based standard relating to statusrelated offences, it clearly represents a step forward in the recognition of a need to prevent the criminalization of victims. “Report on the meeting of the Working Group on Trafficking in Persons held in Vienna on 14 and 15 April 2009" (CTOC/COP/WG.4/2009/2, para. 12). 262 See also Explanatory Report on the European Trafficking Convention, paras. 272-274. 263 COMMENTARY 131