A/HRC/26/18 are able to reintegrate into communities and act as advocates to prevent future trafficking of others from their communities. B. Compensation 28. Compensation was widely recognized as an important element of the right to effective remedies for victims of trafficking but lacking. Numerous elements of compensation were identified, including wages from uncompensated or undercompensated labour, the cost of physical and psychological medical treatment, and recognizing the moral and emotional harm inflicted, together with collateral harm committed by the State, such as re-victimization. 29. Participants in the consultations underlined the fact that access to compensation remains limited owing to, inter alia, not only the lengthy judicial processes involving both criminal and civil proceedings but also the exclusion of victims with an irregular immigration status and victims of sex exploitation from having access to civil recourse to seek compensation for unpaid wages. Some also pointed out that victims of commercial sexual exploitation had great difficulty in obtaining financial compensation owing to stigmatization,. Economic inequalities and gender-based discrimination were identified as factors disproportionately affecting the ability of women victims to recover lost wages. 30. The widespread obstacle of insufficient funds allocated to supporting victims of trafficking was also underlined. Participants stressed that, in addition to the establishment of victims’ funds, a State-funded compensation scheme could be an important restitution mechanism and an effective means for the provision of compensation. Concerns were nonetheless expressed with regard to generating and managing fund resources. Participants stressed the need to unify the scheme for the confiscation of proceeds from crimes, stating that proceeds should go directly towards support for victims, while a specific proportion of proceeds should be allocated to compensation. While appreciating that each State may have its own strategy for implementation, participants noted that a consensus on generally accepted standards for compensation and assistance for victims was needed. In this regard, it was also suggested that resources for victims’ funds should not solely result from the seizure and forfeiture of traffickers’ assets, but rather that States should develop alternative means to raise funds for victim support and compensation. 31. It was suggested that compensation should be considered an important means of combating trafficking that serves restorative, punitive and preventive purposes, insofar as it provides victims with the financial autonomy necessary to escape from situations of vulnerability and from the risk of being re-victimized. VI. Procedural preconditions in realizing the right to effective remedies 32. Participants in the consultations generally agreed that victims of trafficking had not had access to the substantive components of the right to an effective remedy, mainly because they are hardly ever identified. Victim identification is the first precondition for realizing the right to remedy. Besides the matter of identification, the issue of criminalization relating to the victim’s immigration status was also widely recognized as a major obstacle in the access to effective remedies. Moreover, capacity gaps were described as an important factor that affectsed both the identification and the provision of adequate support services. 8