A/HRC/56/60 interests and rights of all children, and non-discrimination on grounds such as disability, race, religion, nationality or migration status. 32. Disembarkation to a place of safety requires ensuring that all necessary measures to prevent trafficking in persons, and to ensure effective protection of the rights of victims of trafficking, are carried out. Those include the positive obligation to identify, assist and protect victims of trafficking. 33. Disembarkation to a place of safety requires that the rights of victims of trafficking to assistance and protection are ensured. As required by international human rights law, victims of trafficking have a special status in international law and rights to specialized assistance, including medical and psychosocial assistance, reproductive and sexual health services, safe accommodation and legal assistance. Protection measures must be ensured. Assistance provided to victims must be inclusive and accessible, including access to information on their rights, the medical, psychological, social and legal services available to them and how to access them, as well as to safe and appropriate accommodation.48 Trafficking victims must be provided immediately with unconditional assistance, by trained and qualified personnel. 34. The obligation to ensure disembarkation to a place of safety requires ensuring that the positive obligation to identify victims of trafficking and persons at risk of trafficking can be fulfilled, as required by international human rights and anti-trafficking law. Too often, weak identification and referral processes at sea, and on disembarkation, lead to failures of protection. Victims of trafficking face restricted access to essential services, both in the place in which they are identified and in their place of origin, for reasons of: cost and language delivery of services; lack of gender or cultural sensitivity and trauma-informed practices; and failure of first responders to conduct appropriate risk assessments and referrals”.49 35. For persons with disabilities, the limited accessibility of information, assistance and protection services, and access to justice, leads to failures of identification and gaps in protection at sea and on disembarkation. A focus only on physical or visible disabilities in screening or referral processes contributes to weak identification and protection gaps. 36. In a joint letter to the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, the Special Rapporteur expressed concerns in relation to the European Union’s new pact on migration and asylum. Specifically, concerns were raised that the proposed pre-entry screening procedures, permitting automatic detention, “of all third-country nationals who have crossed the external border in an unauthorised manner … as well as those disembarked after a search and rescue operation”,50 were not compatible with international and regional human rights law. In her report on refugee protection, internal displacement and statelessness, the Special Rapporteur highlighted the obligation to ensure comprehensive identification, assistance and protection measures for victims of trafficking and potential victims. 51 The Special Rapporteur highlights the importance of early identification of victims and the possible impact of psychological trauma. She also highlights the positive obligation on States to identify victims of trafficking and emphasizes that this duty is not dependent on self-identification by a victim of trafficking. As the European Court of Human Rights has stated: “there may be different reasons why victims of human trafficking and different forms of sexual abuse may be reluctant to cooperate with the authorities and to disclose all the details of the case. Moreover, the possible impact of psychological trauma must be taken into account.”52 48 49 50 51 52 10 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 38 (2020), para. 40. Ibid. Communication OTH 144/2023, p. 4. A/HRC/53/28, paras. 15–20. European Court of Human Rights, S.M. v. Croatia, application No. 60561/14, Judgment, 25 June 2020, para. 344. Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires States to adopt a range of measures to prevent trafficking and to protect the rights of victims: “Protection measures include facilitating the identification of victims by qualified persons and assisting victims in their physical, psychological and social recovery” (V.C.L. and A.N. v. United Kingdom, application Nos. 77587/12 and 74603/12, Judgment, 16 February 2021, para. 153). GE.24-06692