ABSTRACT
A number of international instruments set out States’ obligations to establish a remedial framework for victims of THB. For example, Article 25 of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime requires States to establish “appropriate procedures to provide access to compensation and restitution” and to “enable views and concerns of victims to be presented and considered at appropriate stages of criminal proceedings against offenders”. Article 6(6) of the Palermo Protocol provides that “[e]ach State Party shall ensure that its domestic legal system contains measures that offer victims of trafficking in persons the possibility of obtaining compensation for damage suffered”, without prescribing the form that should take. Article 15 of the Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking in Human Beings also requires that parties:
ensure that victims have access, as from their first contact with the competent authorities, to information on relevant judicial and administrative proceedings in a language which they can understand … provide … for the right to legal assistance and to free legal aid for victims … provide … for the right of victims to compensation from the perpetrators … adopt such legislative or other measures as may be necessary to guarantee compensation for victims in accordance with the conditions under its internal law, for instance through the establishment of a fund for victim compensation or measures or programmes aimed at social assistance and social integration of victims.
