A/RES/53/116 Page 4 Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences in her reports to the Commission at its fifty-third23 and fifty-fourth24 sessions, and those of the human rights treaty bodies relating to the traffic in women and girls; 5. Encourages Member States to conclude bilateral, subregional, regional and international agreements to address the problem of trafficking in women and girls; 6. Also encourages Member States to strengthen cooperation through information-sharing of experience, best practices and lessons learned through, inter alia, consultation mechanisms, such as the regional consultation process organized in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration; 7. Calls upon Governments to take appropriate measures to address the root factors, including external factors, that encourage trafficking in women and girls for prostitution and other forms of commercialized sex, forced marriages and forced labour, so as to eliminate trafficking in women, including by strengthening existing legislation with a view to providing better protection of the rights of women and girls and to punishing perpetrators, through both criminal and civil measures; 8. Calls upon all Governments to criminalize trafficking in women and girls in all its forms, to condemn and penalize all those offenders involved, including intermediaries, whether their offence was committed in their own or in a foreign country, while ensuring that the victims of those practices are not penalized, and to penalize persons in authority found guilty of sexually assaulting victims of trafficking in their custody; 9. Urges concerned Governments, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations, to support and allocate resources for programmes to strengthen preventive action, in particular education and campaigns to increase public awareness of the issue at the national and grass-roots levels; 10. Encourages Governments, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations, to undertake campaigns aimed at clarifying opportunities, limitations and rights in the event of migration so as to enable women to make informed decisions and to prevent them from becoming victims of trafficking; 11. Also encourages Governments to intensify collaboration with non-governmental organizations to develop and implement programmes for effective counselling, training and reintegration into society of victims of trafficking, and programmes that provide shelter and helplines to victims or potential victims; 12. Invites Governments to take steps, including witness protection programmes, to enable women who are victims of trafficking to make complaints to the police and to be available when required by the criminal justice system, and to ensure that during this time women have access to social, medical, financial and legal assistance, and protection, as appropriate; 13. Encourages Governments to take effective and expeditious measures, particularly the enactment or amendment, if necessary, of domestic legislation to provide appropriate penalties, such as substantial imprisonment, fines and forfeiture, in order to combat all aspects of organized criminal activities related to trafficking at the international level in women and children; 23 E/CN.4/1997/47 and Add.1-4. 24 E/CN.4/1998/54 and Add.1. /...