A/HRC/17/35 5. Asked whether “rehabilitation / recovery” should form part of the right to an effective remedy, there was general consensus that rehabilitation / recovery is one of the essential components. One participant commented that “for some victims in particular, the provision of medical, psychological and social services is critical to their recovery”. A number of participants expressed views that a remedy is more than just money. Thus, while monetary compensation may be an important remedy, it is by no means the only appropriate response. Integration of gender perspectives in ensuring remedies for trafficked persons 6. One participant elaborated on how gender discrimination leads to extreme financial deprivation of women and girls, which in turn leaves them vulnerable to be exploited and abused. Women and girls often experience gender-based social exclusion and discrimination, which reduce their chance of obtaining education and prospects of adequate income generation. Further, “young girls and women who have received little, if any, education have no comprehension of their rights”. In her view, “all these dynamics play into the hands of traffickers who are able to easily deceive and control.” 7. One participant discussed barriers to access to justice for women and girls, which include “cost of litigation to seek remedies, proximity and complexity of the justice system and high potential to face stigma”. “Social expectations from women and family pressure” were also cited as an obstacle to women pursuing justice. The same participant stressed that remedies that will not compromise on protection for women should be provided, and “opportunities to secure monetary compensation should also be strengthened in view of oft financial dependency of victim on trafficker(s)”. 8. Another participant commented that in addition to gender, consideration of other factors such as cultural diversity, urban-rural divide, difference among generations, cultural and linguistic minorities, requires particular attention. Identification of trafficked persons 9. In reference to the provision in the draft basic principle which provides that “the identification and formal recognition of trafficked persons as such, is an essential prerequisite for the realization of the right to a remedy” (principle 5), one participant noted the difficulty in ensuring that the international definition of “trafficked person” is applied consistently to allow such identification and recognition. For example, she noted an example in New Zealand where an internal victim of trafficking is not recognized as a trafficked person. Further, she noted that trafficked persons are often misidentified, as it is often easier and less resource intensive for law enforcement authorities to treat them as irregular migrants and detain or deport them, rather than to recognize them as trafficked persons. Notion of restitution 10. The participants recognised that the term “restitution” gives rise to interpretative difficulties in the context of trafficking. As one participant noted, “restitution typically refers to the return of something to its rightful owner, payment of compensation, and restoration”. Thus, if “restitution” is taken to mean “efforts aimed at the return of something (or someone) to its (their) previous condition”, then “restoration to such a point as preceding their last experience of human trafficking, will only render them vulnerable to further exploitation”. The participants agreed that simply sending a person who has survived trafficking back to his/her original state would not be a form of effective remedy. One participant described it as being “tantamount to placing them back to an ‘imprisonment’ of a different kind”. 24

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