The defendant appealed against her conviction for trafficking a complainant into the United Kingdom for the purposes of exploitation, contrary to section 4 of the 2004 Act.
Held: The appeal succeeded, and a retrial ordered. The court identified a hierarchy of denial of personal autonomy encapsulated in the concept of trafficking in Article 4 of the Convention. ‘Slavery’ involved treating someone as belonging to oneself, rather as an animal or object; ‘servitude’ involved an obligation enforced by coercion to provide services for another person; and ‘force or compulsory labour’ involved work under the threat of penalty and performed against the will of the person concerned. The three concepts were not necessarily mutually exclusive. The common denominator between them was that the victim was subject to enforced control.
Judges:
Toulson LJ, Wyn Williams, Lindblom JJ
Citations:
[2012] Crim LR 63, [2011] EWCA Crim 1691, [2011] 2 Cr App R 34
Links:
Statutes:
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act 2004, European Convention on Human Rights 4
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Siliadin v France ECHR 26-Jul-2005
(French Text) A 15-year-old girl, had been brought from Togo to France and made to work for a family without pay for 15 hours a day. She had been held in servitude and required to perform forced labour
Held: France had violated article 4 by . .
Cited by:
Cited – N, Regina v CACD 20-Feb-2012
The court considered the offence of child trafficking. The defendants had been the victims of such offences and used for managing cannabis production. It was argued that neither defendant should have been prosecuted.
Held: The appeals failed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime, Human Rights
Updated: 15 September 2022; Ref: scu.441549