A/HRC/10/16 page 15 A. Gathering of baseline information and data mapping on all forms of trafficking 40. Credible statistical information on trafficked persons and related matters is a major challenge. Statistics are being brandished from many sources and most are far from being comprehensive or credible. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur seeks to make concerted efforts with Member States in solving this problem and facilitating the framework for a coherent, systematic information base on all forms of trafficking. Some specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations have done tangible and good work in researching and documenting various aspects of trafficking. 41. For example, ILO has done very comprehensive work on forced labour17 and child trafficking for labour exploitation. UNICEF has documented the trafficking of children for sexual exploitation. IOM has focused, among other things, on documenting “hard data” on known or reported cases, for example the number of women and children or trafficked persons for which IOM has provided assistance with its partners worldwide. The United States annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report)18 also provides accounts of trafficked persons around the world. The UNODC database provides a criminal justice perspective, focusing in part on enhancing institutional capacity and effectiveness of States parties to the Palermo Protocol to prosecute traffickers and track the proceeds of their crime as well as victims’ protection. All of this is very important work that the Special Rapporteur will not only seek to harness but to build upon through a synergetic partnership that is targeted at better coordination and dissemination of information. 42. In pursuit of this objective, the Special Rapporteur has as one of her first activities sent out a questionnaire to Member States. The brief questionnaire is intended to gather baseline information and in its five questions, covered the following: (1) information on whether a country is a party to the Palermo Protocol; if so, subsequent action taken to implement and transform the Palermo Protocol into the domestic legal framework; if not, whether specific national legislation exists to address the issue of trafficking in persons; (2) whether a specialized national agency exists at country level which coordinates action directed at combating trafficking 17 The ILO Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour aims at raising global awareness about the forced labour phenomenon around the world, and provides technical assistance to Governments, workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations in developing and implementing effective strategies to prevent this serious form of labour exploitation. 18 The 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) mandated the State Department to produce an annual Trafficking in Persons report to assess Governments’ anti-trafficking efforts around the world, measured in terms of compliance with a set of minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons (Tier 1). The Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2003, among other amendments, supplemented the criteria for these standards, including by adding the consideration not only of investigations and prosecutions but also of convictions and sentences. The 2004 TIP Report was the first one prepared under the TVPRA.