A/HRC/26/18 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 20/1, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to organize, in close cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, consultations with States, intergovernmental bodies and civil society organizations to further discuss the draft basic principles on the right to an effective remedy for trafficked persons , and to submit a summary thereon to the Council at its twenty-sixth session. Resolution 20/1 came as a positive response to the report presented by the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council at its seventeenth session,1 in which she examined the conceptual basis of the right to an effective remedy in the context of trafficking in persons, and made recommendations on how States could better fulfil their obligations. The Special Rapporteur submitted the draft basic principles in an annex to the report with the aim of providing Member States with useful guidance in operationalizing the right to an effective remedy for victims of trafficking in persons. 2. OHCHR and the Special Rapporteur convened the following regional consultations: for Western Europe and Others and Eastern Europe, in Geneva in March 2013); for Latin America and the Caribbean, in Santiago, in July 2013; for Asia, in Bangkok ,in September 2013; for Africa, in Abuja, in November 2013; and for the Middle East and North Africa, in Amman, in January 2014. They also organized two global consultations – in New York and in Vienna, in October and November 2013 – to engage with Member States, intergovernmental organizations, experts and non-governmental actors and to solicit suggestions and input for the draft basic principles (see annex).2 3. The basic principles represent the culmination of the focus and work of the Special Rapporteur on the right to an effective remedy for victims of trafficking. She has consistently highlighted the fact that effective remedies are often not accessible to victims of trafficking owing to a gap between the enactment and implementation of national laws and international standards. The lack of adequate and comprehensive remedies for victims of trafficking persists despite their crucial role in ensuring the restoration of victims’ human rights. 4. At the consultations, the Special Rapporteur stressed that, in order to realize fully victims’ rights to effective remedies, States had to meet both substantive and procedural obligations. International human rights standards clearly provide that States have an obligation to provide for remedies to victims of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law, including by ensuring equal and effective access to justice and prompt and adequate reparation for any harm suffered. Remedies include restitution, rehabilitation, compensation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition.3 The procedural obligations may be conceived as the range of measures needed to guarantee access to an effective remedy. Consequently, discussions were structured around this dual track of obligations. 1 2 3 A/HRC/17/35. Preliminary summary reports of the consultations are available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Trafficking/Pages/consultations.aspx. See the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. 3