1 Introduction Although torture is prohibited under international law and in most domestic laws, torture is a continuing practice worldwide. One major obstacle identified by the OSCE field operations for preventing torture is a lack of recognition that torture even exists.1 Similarly, trafficking in human beings is also prohibited under international law, but is widespread and ever-increasing throughout the OSCE region and beyond.2 International human rights law and trafficking in human beings are closely intertwined. International human rights law can help better define necessary responses of States to trafficking in human beings. In this legal part of the Occasional Paper3, one of the linkages between human rights and trafficking in human beings, torture and other forms of ill-treatment, is elaborated. It explores which principles concerning torture and other forms of ill-treatment could also be applicable to trafficking in human beings with the aim to improve the existing standards of protection of victims’ rights and prosecution of trafficking in human beings. This Legal Paper determines which principles concerning torture and other forms of ill-treatment can be used as additional means of protection for trafficked persons. and torture and refers to trafficking in human beings in its concluding observations.5 The aim of this Legal Paper is to elaborate, under which circumstances trafficking in human beings can amount to ill-treatment, encompassing torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (CIDT)6. Therefore, the first part of this paper describes the definition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment and links this definition to trafficking in human beings based on specific case studies of the OSCE region. After elaborating the linkage between torture and other forms of ill-treatment and trafficking in human beings, the paper discusses which legal implications it may have in the event of trafficking in human beings amounting to torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Specific aspects are discussed in detail: the principle of non-refoulement which is applicable to torture and the differences in standards of adequate reparation concerning torture and other forms of ill-treatment and trafficking in human beings. Recently, international human rights bodies have come to the conclusion that there is a link between trafficking in human beings and torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. It is shown that specific practices of trafficking in human beings during the exploitation “may amount to torture or at least cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”. 4 Also the Committee against Torture monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment recognizes the link between trafficking in human beings The Fight against Torture: The OSCE Experience Combating Trafficking as ModernDay Slavery: A Matter of Rights, Freedoms, and Security, 2010 Annual Report of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking – Commentary Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention: Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture, Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention: Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture, Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention: Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture, 13