are trafficked exactly for this purpose, for example pickpocketing or drug cultivation and this is a big problem because once they commit crimes they are actually treated as criminals". It was during the period of her mandate as OSCE SR that consensus was reached on new anti-trafficking commitments at the OSCE, including on the 2011 Vilnius Declaration on Combating All Forms of Human Trafficking and notably on the Addendum to the Action Plan on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, 2013 a forward looking document which updated OSCE commitments to reflect new trends and challenges which emerged since the adoption of the 2003 OSCE Action Plan. 2012 Hero Award In 2012, she received the Hero Award from the US State Department, "in recognition of her exemplary leadership to increase engagement and strengthen commitments to fight human trafficking in the OSCE region, and to highlight the urgent issues of labour exploitation and domestic servitude in Europe". The US Government acknowledged some of the highlights of her tenure in the following way: "Dr. Giammarinaro shepherded the Ministerial Declaration on combating trafficking to adoption at the Vilnius Ministerial 2011. She has strengthened the OSCE's partnership through the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, an informal platform of advocacy including UN agencies, international organizations, social partners, and international NGOs dealing with human rights and trafficking." Appointment as UN Special Rapporteur On 26 June 2014, Giammarinaro was appointed by the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council as the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children, replacing Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo. A report by the Consultative Group to the HRC had proposed her as the most qualified candidate. References Further reading "An Agenda for the Prevention of Human Trafficking: Non-Discrimination and Empowerment", Podcast of Lecture of Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – 20 November 2012, Faculty of Law, Oxford University, Oxford Human Rights Hub Seminars "Trafficking in Human Beings and Human Rights Violations: The OSCE Approach", M. Giammarinaro, p. 233–240, in All Human Rights for All -Vienna Manual on Human Rights, eds. by Manfred Novak, Karolina Januszewski, Tina Hofstätter, Intersentia/Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Vienna/Graz 2012. “Stopping human trafficking in the Mediterranean”, Interview with M. Giammarinaro, Radio Vaticana, 8 February 2013, article and audio interview “Ten Years of Action against Trafficking in Human Beings”, Testimony of