of interviews and visual contact with the defendant, while respecting the rights of the accused. Council of Europe and European Commission During this period, Giammarinaro was in charge of drafting a Feasibility Study for a Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings for the Secretariat of the Council of Europe. Subsequently she took part as the Scientific Expert of the Secretariat in the whole negotiation of the Council of Europe Convention against Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, until its adoption in 2005. In the same period she was a member of the National Committee for Equal Opportunities of the National Judicial Council of Italy. Giammarinaro served from 2006 until 2009 in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security of the European Commission in Brussels, where she was responsible for work to combat human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children, as well as for penal aspects of illegal immigration within the unit dealing with the fight against organized crime. During this time she co-ordinated the Group of Experts on Trafficking in Human Beings of the European Commission. While at the European Commission, Giammarinaro was instrumental in the development of the 2011 EU Directive on trafficking. Giammarinaro was the drafter of the first proposal for a Framework Decision on Trafficking, subsequently transformed into a Directive, and is widely regarded as one of the main actors in the negotiation leading to the adoption of Directive 2011/36 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, and protecting its victims. Importantly, for the first time, an EU Directive in penal matters included strengthened victim provisions regarding victims' rights in criminal proceedings, assistance and support before, during and after criminal proceedings, and special protective provisions for child victims. In 2010, Giammarinaro was selected and appointed as the third ever Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the OSCE for a four-year term which ended in 2014. Tenure as OSCE Special Representative Mandate As OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Giammarinaro was equipped with an extensive mandate to promote the fight against trafficking in human beings. Supported by her Office, she engaged in continued dialogue with the 57 OSCE participating States to raise their awareness of the crime and strengthen their responses. Moreover, she actively contributed to national and regional conferences as well as expert meetings to promote the OSCE's