ABSTRACT
Operating parallel to the criminal justice process in the aftermath of the trafficking intervention is the welfare process whereby potential victims are taken into state care. The provision of assistance and support for victims has become increasingly important over the past decade as the anti-trafficking community has urged nations to adopt holistic best practice anti-trafficking efforts. The push for victim-oriented trafficking interventions primarily seeks to ensure that victims’ needs are not abandoned in the efforts to achieve criminal justice outcomes. This is reflected by the TIP Report’s recent shift to assess, in addition to criminal justice measures, the extent to which national responses are victimcentred based on the understanding that addressing human trafficking requires going ‘beyond an initial rescue of victims . . . [to] restor[ing] to them dignity and the hope of productive lives’ (USDOS 2008: 5). Being victim-oriented is embraced as a principle to guide criminal justice processes and translates into practices that bring together the pursuit of justice while attending to the needs and requirements of victims.
