A/HRC/10/64 page 18 III. THE RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING 76. Since its earliest involvement in the issue of trafficking, OHCHR has sought to promote and support a human rights approach to combating trafficking in persons. OHCHR has focused on elaborating a series of tools that can be used by States, intergovernmental organizations, human rights bodies, non-governmental organizations and individuals to further the goal of preventing trafficking and protecting the rights of victims. The foundation for this work has been the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking38 developed in 2002 by OHCHR in consultation with United Nations agencies and international experts. This instrument is set to be strengthened by the forthcoming release of a detailed commentary on the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking and an implementation guide for the Recommended Principles and Guidelines. The Principles and Guidelines explicitly advocate a human rights approach to trafficking: one that is normatively based on international law including human rights standards and operationally directed to promoting and protecting human rights. A human rights approach to trafficking requires analysis of the ways in which human rights violations arise throughout the trafficking cycle and of the obligations of States under international human rights law. It seeks to both identify and redress the discriminatory practices and unjust distribution of power that underlie trafficking, that maintain impunity for traffickers, and that deny justice to victims. A. The Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking 77. In July 2002 the High Commissioner for Human Rights transmitted a set of Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking to the Economic and Social Council. In her report accompanying this document, the High Commissioner explained that development of the Principles and Guidelines was the response of her Office to the clear need for practical, rights-based policy guidance on the trafficking issue. The High Commissioner noted that OHCHR had adopted the Principles and Guidelines as a framework and reference point for its own work on this issue and encouraged States and intergovernmental organizations to make use of them in their own efforts to prevent trafficking and to protect the rights of trafficked persons.39 78. The Principles and Guidelines are the result of a wide-ranging, informal consultation involving individual experts and practitioners, as well as representatives of United Nations agencies and programmes and other intergovernmental organizations working on trafficking and related issues. Their purpose is to promote and facilitate the integration of a human rights perspective into national, regional and international anti-trafficking laws, policies and interventions. 38 E/2002/68/Add.1. 39 E/2002/68, para. 62.