A/HRC/44/45/Add.1 VIII. Conclusions and recommendations A. Conclusions 70. Montenegro has recently developed innovative regulations and policies, which could offer the opportunity for the country to take the lead in the region, especially regarding the soon to be adopted standard operating procedures for victim identification and support, the guidance on the implementation of the non-punishment of victims and the compensation scheme for victims of violence. Such innovative measures must be implemented, however, and that will ultimately be the real challenge. The authorities must establish an effective support system for victims and potential victims, in cooperation with experienced non-governmental organizations, including by allocating adequate funding. Some changes in the structure of responsibilities and tasks, in particular the replacement of the mechanism for national coordination with an anti-trafficking unit within the Ministry of the Interior could give the impression of having lowered the priority of combating trafficking. Authorities at the highest level should show renewed political will to tackle trafficking as a matter of priority. The new governmental structures, in particular the operational team, which has already achieved promising results, and the antitrafficking unit must now prove that preventing and countering trafficking must be a strong commitment of the whole Government structure, even more now than in the past. B. Recommendations 71. With regard to the international and national legal and institutional frameworks, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government: (a) Ratify, without delay, the ILO Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29); (b) Ensure that political commitment at highest level of government is maintained despite the changes in organizational structure and replacement of the national coordination on trafficking in persons, formerly under the direct purview of the Secretariat-General of the Government, with an anti-trafficking unit within the Ministry of the Interior; (c) Ensure that the law on compensation for victims of trafficking in persons is enforced independent of the accession of Montenegro to the European Union and that the fund for victims is sufficiently resourced; (d) Ensure that the guidance on non-punishment of victims of trafficking for illicit activities committed while they were trafficked is fully applied, including by implementing training activities for the relevant authorities, especially front-line officers, so that the guidance is applied early on in the process; (e) Amend national legislation, following recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in their concluding observations on the periodic reports of Montenegro, to raise the minimum marriage age to 18 years of age; (f) Perform an independent evaluation of the new identification and referral structure and its impact, based on an increase in identified cases, evaluate both the new standard operating procedures and the operational team structure and composition, reorienting as needed, paying particular attention to how the standard operating procedures and operational structure succeed in identifying and referring cases of trafficking of children for the purposes of unlawful marriage and begging, which particularly affect Montenegro. 72. With regard to victim identification and protection, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government: 15