A/HRC/38/45 48. The need to separate labour inspection from immigration control is also paramount in order to create a trustworthy space for migrant workers. Such a firewall has been advocated since 2014 by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants because migrant workers in an irregular status or precarious legal status are reluctant to report unless there is a firewall preventing labour inspectors from communicating information on potential irregularities in immigration status to immigration enforcement. 49. A good practice was examined while visiting Portugal in preparation of the present report. The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons found to be exemplary the country’s practice of adapting the cooperation mechanism procedures to the legislative and institutional changes that had occurred since 2008. The National Referral Mechanism, revised in 2014 by the Portuguese working group that coordinated the activities of the national action plan, ensured that newly emerging forms of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, forced begging and criminal activities were included with a view to also addressing the increased migrant-related trafficking in the country, which is a transit and destination for trafficking. 50. The origin of the Portuguese success is twofold. On the one hand, identification and referral is based on the work of regional multidisciplinary teams whose composition can be adapted to the circumstances of the case and type of exploitation, and which includes a wide range of actors, such as social workers and psychologists. In addition, those teams have also developed regional networks to help victims, including relevant public bodies and civil society actors. On the other hand, these efforts have been strengthened by a programme for the integration of identified victims, including access to the labour market. However, this approach has been used in a context of limited movement of people, as compared with other regions or countries, and its scalability and adaptability to deal with mixed migration movements and higher numbers of arrivals should be tested. D. Impact of return procedures in identification of victims and potential victims of trafficking in persons 51. Within the current international protection system, those persons whose applications for international protection have been refused are subject to return to their country of origin. At the European Union level, transfer to the first European Union country of arrival can also happen even before a determination of their cases have been made, based on the Dublin III Regulation. 48 In that case, the risks of non-detection of victims and potential victims of trafficking increase as many countries do not have in place procedures for their proactive detection, especially when the application of Dublin criteria is assessed before a first interview takes place with the applicant for international protection. 52. According to feedback received, the risk for victims of trafficking of exposure to reprisals and re-victimization increases as they are likely to be contacted again by the trafficking network when returned to the first European Union country of arrival. Those risks are in principle not taken into consideration when determining which European Union member State is responsible for examining the application for international protection. 49 Submitted information also raises general concerns on the lack of training of officials to appreciate these dangers and safety concerns. Active screening for indicators of trafficking is on many occasions not performed under the assumption that the appropriate screening has already taken place at an earlier stage of the process, before the Dublin procedure is applied.50 Even if cases of trafficking are identified, there is a lack of clear guidance within the social assistance system when a Dublin transfer has nevertheless been processed. 51 48 49 50 Available from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32013R0604. See also: www.icmpd.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Policy_Brief_Relocation-20062017_FINAL.pdf. Submission of Swedish Platform Civil Society against Human Trafficking. European Migration network, “Synthesis report: Identification of victims of trafficking in human beings in international protection and forced return procedures” (March 2014), p. 7. Available at www.refworld.org/docid/5326b50a4.html. See also Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, “Fifth General Report on GRETA’s activities” (2015), p. 34. Available at 13