A/HRC/26/37 reference was made in the resolution to the relevant international instruments: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. 18. In 2011, in resolution 17/1, the Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for a further three years. In resolution 17/1, the Council reiterated the relevant standards, principle areas of focus and working methods set out in its previous resolution, adding a request that the mandate “examine the impact of anti-trafficking measures on the human rights of victims of trafficking in persons with a view to proposing adequate responses to challenges arising in this regard and to avoid re-victimization of victims of trafficking”. B. Definition and scope of trafficking in persons 19. Trafficking in persons was defined internationally for the first time in article 3 of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, as constituting three elements: (a) an “action”, being recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons; (b) a “means” by which that action is achieved, for example threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability and the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person; and (c) a “purpose” of the intended action or means, namely exploitation. Thus, consent of the victim to the intended exploitation is irrelevant when any of the listed means have been used. All three elements must be present to constitute “trafficking in persons” in international law. The only exception is that when the victim is a child, the “means” element is not part of the definition. 20. Since the inception of the mandate, both mandate holders have upheld the international legal definition of trafficking, affirming its central role in establishing the parameters of trafficking and enabling responses to be developed with consistency and clarity. That definition is now well entrenched in international, regional and national normative frameworks developed since the adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. The majority of States (reported in 2012 by UNODC to be 1342) have criminalized trafficking in their national laws, generally conforming to the definition in the Protocol. 21. That definition affirmed that trafficking is much wider in scope than previously envisaged: that it can take place for a wide range of end purposes, including, but not limited to, sexual exploitation; that it can involve as victims men and boys, as well as women and girls; and that it can take place across borders or within a country, including the victim’s own. The Special Rapporteur has embraced this understanding of trafficking, affirming in her first report the scope of the mandate to include trafficking in children for sexual purposes, child labour, adoption and participation in armed conflict; trafficking in men for forced labour, organized crime and other exploitation; trafficking in women and girls for 2 6 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2012 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.13.IV.1).