A/HRC/18/54 particular hate speech and racial violence, and also to take resolute action to counter any tendency to target, stigmatize, stereotype or profile such groups. 15. In the context of the Declaration of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, States affirmed their responsibility to safeguard and protect migrants against illegal or violent acts, in particular acts of racial discrimination and crimes perpetrated with racist or xenophobic motivation by individuals or groups. B. Trafficking and smuggling of migrants and asylum-seekers 16. For years, the mixed movement of people across the Mediterranean Sea has provided a lucrative income for smugglers and an opportunity for traffickers to prey on vulnerable and desperate migrants and asylum-seekers. It has been noted that increasingly tough controls at the external borders of Europe have increased the risks and raised the stakes of movement, forcing migrants and asylum-seekers into dangerous modes of travel, sometimes in conditions that violate human rights.15 Insufficient legal opportunities to migrate also added to the compulsion of migrants and asylum-seekers to rely on smugglers to facilitate movement. Some reports indicate that, in the context of recent events, migrants and asylum-seekers have felt compelled to leave overcrowded border camps to search out smugglers who could facilitate the sea crossing to Europe.16 17. Some migrants have been left alone and adrift on unseaworthy boats by smugglers, who have forced them to crew the boat themselves despite having no knowledge of how to operate the vessel or to navigate at sea. Others have been subject to violence and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the people facilitating their movement. Still others who had thought that they had simply paid a smuggler to transport them to their destination have been forced into a situation of trafficking upon reaching destination. 18. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is the first international instrument to identify trafficked persons as victims of crime. Although not a human rights instrument, the Protocol contains important provisions in respect of protection for the victims of human trafficking. The High Commissioner has stated that trafficking itself is first and foremost a human rights violation.17 States have accordingly been urged to adopt a human rights-based approach to trafficking by a wide variety of human rights bodies.18 15 16 17 6 A recent Europol report noted that “Increasing control of external borders, the introduction of higher quality travel documents and other protective measures implemented by destination countries are making illegal immigration more difficult for individual migrants, forcing them to seek the services of organised crime groups … Transiting migrants are frequently exploited in illicit labour, thus marking a point of contact between illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings.” Europol, EU organized crime threat assessment, The Hague, 28 April 2011. Médecins Sans Frontières, “Trapped in transit: Neglected victims of the war in Libya”, 30 June 2011. UNHCR similarly reported that “a number of people who had fled Libya [crossed] back into Libya, with the intention of boarding boats to reach Europe. While refugees appear to be aware of the high death toll in such perilous journeys, most feel they have little to lose by the attempt.” OHCHR, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking Commentary, New York and Geneva 2010. Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights adopts the same approach, where the Court concluded in the case of Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia that “there can be no doubt that trafficking threatens the human dignity and fundamental freedoms of its victims and cannot be considered compatible with a democratic society and the values expounded