A/HRC/20/18 prosecution. Nevertheless, the added value of such evidence merits attention, not least because the discovery of additional or corroborative evidence may alleviate some of the pressure put on victims during the prosecution process. 58. The development of alternative evidence-gathering techniques has received some attention from States, particularly in recent years. In 2009, a memorandum issued by the Government of India (see also paragraph 30 above) stated that, in order to increase conviction rates, States should build cases based on documentary, forensic and material evidence and lessen the degree of reliance on victim-witness testimony. In the United States, at both the State and federal levels, experts have commented on the value of bolstering a victim’s testimony with alternative forms of evidence through such methods as surveillance exercises, subpoenas of phone records, interviews of numerous witnesses and victims, public record searches, information received from confidential informants and warrants to search cars, homes and e-mail.68 Similarly, reviewing potential sources of evidence, such as transportation receipts, phone records and social websites, has been reported as helpful in bolstering victim testimony.70 59. Another good practice is where States have taken measures to provide victimwitnesses with important information about participation in the justice process and to address privacy and safety concerns during trials. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Crown Prosecution Service has a policy of keeping victims informed about case developments, hearing dates, verdicts and sentences. 71 In order to help agencies provide victim-witnesses with information in a language they understand, UNODC and the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) have developed a tool, “VITA”, to identify the nationality and language of trafficked persons. 72 4. Success of specialized institutions 60. Given that the complexity of the trafficking crime requires specialization and expertise, a number of States have established specialized agencies or institutions on trafficking. Many national police forces have specialized trafficking units. Some of these units operate on the national level; in other countries, such as Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar, have decentralized the specialist response to the provincial level.73 61. Success has been achieved in Nigeria through the creation of a national agency for the prohibition of traffic in persons and other related matters. 74 The agency’s mandate is two-fold: law enforcement and providing victims with assistance. It recently reported that it had secured convictions against 111 individuals for trafficking violations and rehabilitated 70 71 72 73 74 See Lauren Hersh, “Sex Trafficking Investigations and Prosecutions”, in Lawyer’s Manual on Human Trafficking: Pursuing Justice for Victims (Jill Laurie Goodman and Dorchen A. Leidholdt, eds. 2011), available from www.nycourts.gov/ip/womeninthecourts/LMHT.pdf, pp. 264 - 265. See CPS Policy for prosecuting cases of Human Trafficking at www.cps.gov.uk/consultations/consultation_on_human_trafficking.html#p13. See UNODC and UN.GIFT, “Victim-Translation-Assistance, A Handbook for Law Enforcement Officers and Victim Service Providers”, 2010. Available from www.unodc.org/documents/humantrafficking/UN.GIFT/Final_VITA_Booklet_Part_I.pdf. Willem Pretorius, “Law Enforcement Responses to Trafficking in Persons in South East Asia”, available from http://www.artipproject.org/artip-project/documents/Paper_LEResponses%20to%20TIP_22Oct08_fnl.pdf. Submission by Nigeria, p. 10. 15