A/HRC/15/27 C. Panel 2: Opportunities and challenges in relation to criminal justice responses 26. The Chair introduced the speakers for Panel 2: Ms. Cindy Dyer, a former United States prosecutor and representative of Vital Voices Global Partnership; Mr. Knut Brattvik, representative of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL); and Ms. Marieta Kane, Ministry of Justice of Mauritania. 27. In her presentation, Ms. Dyer emphasized the importance of a coordinated community response, involving NGOs and the judicial, medical and religious communities, as key to the provision of a human rights-based approach to trafficking. She also pointed to the critical need of effective training of law enforcement officials. Developing partnerships between community-based NGOs and the criminal justice system could assist victims in their access to services. She stressed the connection among the access of victims to services, the use of specialized law enforcement prosecutors and the creation of an environment in which victims were willing to testify. 28. Mr. Brattvik highlighted the practice and implementation of a victim-centred approach in the anti-trafficking work of INTERPOL. He identified a need for more reliable information on practices such as forced labour and organ trafficking. Although INTERPOL was not an operational organization, it had been able to provide tools and assistance, including analytical assistance, to Member States. Its close working relations with other international agencies had enhanced the value of several tools developed by INTERPOL. In particular, the speaker outlined a tool to be launched in October 2010 designed to help safeguard people from becoming victims, including a list of questions already translated into 40 languages. International cooperation would continue to be an important weapon in the fight against trafficking. States should work to strengthen the institutions and processes that make such cooperation possible. 29. Ms. Kane provided a brief summary of Mauritania’s response to trafficking, a phenomenon which the State considered to be a major obstacle to the equitable development of society. Highlights included the adoption of a new law; training and awareness-raising for law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and the community; and strong working partnerships with human rights NGOs and the media. Recognized as a trans-ethnic and multidimensional societal phenomenon, trafficking needed to be tackled through comprehensive programmes, integrating protection of political, legal, economic, social and cultural rights. The speaker noted the importance of addressing underlying vulnerabilities to trafficking through innovative approaches such as microfinance and rehabilitation, especially targeting rural communities, which were particularly vulnerable and often the main source of victims of trafficking and domestic servitude. 30. In the subsequent plenary discussion, interventions were made by representatives of four States (Egypt, the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates and Italy), as well as by UNODC, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of OSCE, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, the Coalition against Trafficking in Women and the University of the Free State (South Africa). 31. The debate highlighted the critical importance of an effective criminal justice response as one aspect of a broader, rights-based approach to the phenomenon. A criminal justice response to trafficking that prioritized rights and sought to both end impunity for traffickers and secure justice for victims was an important component of any lasting solution to trafficking. It was noted by many speakers that there was increasing awareness and agreement on the elements of an effective criminal justice response to trafficking. Many of those elements, such as criminalization of trafficking; prosecution of traffickers; the elimination of safe havens and confiscation of assets, were set out in the Trafficking 9