A/HRC/56/60 people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies. Continued progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals is essential to the prevention of trafficking in persons, and protection of victims, and must be a core commitment of the upcoming Summit of the Future, underpinned by the obligations arising under international human rights law, international refugee law and international law on trafficking in persons. 6. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur sets out the obligations that apply to maritime actors, to States, including port States and flag States, and other maritime actors, including non-State actors, commercial vessels and international organizations, to ensure effective prevention of trafficking, and protection of victims of trafficking at sea, including, in particular, child victims. She also addresses the obligations to ensure accountability for the serious human rights violation and serious crime of trafficking in persons, and access to effective remedies for victims, recognizing the particular difficulties that arise for victims of trafficking in the context of mixed migration at sea. II. Protection gaps at sea 7. The protection gaps that arise at sea are not inevitable. They are the consequence of failures of international cooperation and shared responsibility. Information and reports received by the Special Rapporteur repeatedly highlight gaps in protection at sea. Confusion over which State or non-State actors have responsibilities, as well as the shifting of responsibility, has led to transfers of responsibility for the reception of asylum-seekers and the determination of asylum claims.4 In the Mediterranean Sea, concerns persist in relation to returns of migrants and refugees, including potential victims of trafficking, to Libya where there are continuing real risks of serious human rights violations. 5 8. Of serious concern are the conclusions of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, which stated that Libyan authorities, including the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, the Libyan Coast Guard and the Stability Support Apparatus, and third States had been on notice for years regarding the ongoing widespread and systematic attacks on migrants, including violations occurring at sea, in detention centres, along trafficking and smuggling routes and in trafficking hubs. 6 Despite credible evidence of the real risks of trafficking in persons and other serious human rights violations, in accordance with memorandums of understanding between Libya and third States, the Libyan authorities have continued their policy of intercepting and returning migrants to Libya. The Mission further concluded that there were grounds to believe that the European Union and its member States, directly or indirectly, had provided monetary and technical support and equipment, such as boats, to the Libyan Coast Guard and the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration that had been used in the context of interception and detention of migrants.7 The previous mandate holder issued a joint communication 8 expressing concern that strengthening activities, institutions and mechanisms that would increase the interception of migrants at sea and their unlawful return to Libya, a State where they were at risk of slavery, trafficking, torture and other ill-treatment, and enforced disappearance, would constitute a violation of the principle of non-refoulement. Specifically, concerns were raised at the de facto delegation of search and rescue at sea to a State that might currently lack the capacity to properly carry out that role in respect of human dignity and international human rights norms.9 9. Failures of protection are not confined to one region. Concerns were raised by the previous mandate holder in relation to an alleged pushback policy implemented against 4 5 6 7 8 9 GE.24-06692 A/HRC/53/28, para. 30. See, for example, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “‘Lethal disregard’: search and rescue and the protection of migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea” (Geneva, 2021). A/HRC/52/83, para. 46. Ibid. See communication ITA 4/2017, p. 3. All communications mentioned in the present report are available from https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/Tmsearch/TMDocuments. Ibid. 3