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As an NGO in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, IMADR has been pressing for the necessity of human rights guarantees for trafficked persons especially women and children, at various United Nations forums such as the former Commission on Human Rights (replaced by the Human Rights Council in 2006) and Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (the present Human Rights Council Advisory Committee). To the same effect, IMADR tries to utilize the UN Special Rapporteur system, and has worked with Special Rapporteurs on trafficking in persons, violence against women, and the human rights of migrants.

Based on discussions with various organizations working to address the issue, in 1998 IMADR submitted a working paper to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery that recommended the drawing up of an Optional Protocol to the 1949 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Trafficking in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. This document was held in high esteem and formed the basis of an official document of the United Nations Sub-Committee on Human Rights (see Related Information).

At the drafting stage of the Palermo Protocol (UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations

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Convention against Transnational Organized Crime), IMADR called upon a wide range of NGOs involved in this issue and lobbied related UN agencies to ensure that the document included aspects on the human rights of trafficking victims. As a result, the protocol that was ultimately adopted in November 2000 contains measures giving some - though still inadequate - consideration to the human rights of trafficking victims.

In order to monitor the implementation of the Palermo Protocol, a Conference of the Parties to the Protocol was set up within the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has met regularly in Vienna since 2004. IMADR intends to monitor this follow-up mechanism continuously, and make suggestions where necessary. IMADR will also utilize and disseminate the "Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking" issued by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2002, which is an important supplemental document to the Palermo Protocol in terms of protecting the human rights of trafficked persons.

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