A/HRC/29/38 home country.15 The social inclusion of victims of trafficking prevents their further victimization and is also a preventive measure against retrafficking. 28. Social inclusion options for victims of trafficking, such as access to housing, social protection, health care, education and employment, are vital in countries of destination, transit and origin. In most cases, the capacity of countries to offer viable long-term social inclusion options for victims, in particular those returning to their country of origin, is limited owing to factors such as poverty, unemployment and weak social structures. On the other hand, in countries of destination social inclusion is hampered by a number of factors, including restrictive migration policies and poor labour market regulations. As a result, in many countries trafficked persons, even after being identified as such and having undertaken a rehabilitation and reintegration process, are not allowed to work or regularize their residence status; rather, they are repatriated at the end of criminal proceedings. In the absence of viable social inclusion options for victims of trafficking, it will be difficult to break the cycle of trafficking and retrafficking. IV. Legal and policy framework 29. Trafficking is a grave violation of a number of human rights, especially the right to liberty and the right not to be held in slavery or involuntary servitude, the right to be free from cruel and inhumane treatment, the right to be free from violence and the right to health. The Special Rapporteur’s framework for action will be guided by existing international and regional human rights instruments and principles relating to trafficking in persons. A. International human rights mechanisms 30. Prior to the adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (also referred to as the Palermo Protocol), trafficking in persons was addressed in various instruments, including the 1926 Slavery Convention, the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, and the 1949 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. Other international normative documents also contain provisions against trafficking of persons, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and its 2000 Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. 31. In December 2003, the Palermo Protocol entered into force and has since been ratified by many States.16 The purposes of the Protocol are to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, paying particular attention to women and children; to protect and assist the victims of trafficking, with full respect for their human rights; and to promote cooperation among States parties in order to meet those objectives. UNODC offers practical 15 16 10 Basic principles on the right to an effective remedy for trafficked persons, art. 9 (A/69/33797, annex); OHCHR, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, guideline 6; Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, art. 15, para. 4. As at 27 January 2015, the Protocol had 117 signatories and 166 parties.