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 having failed to introduce criminal legislation which would afford effective protection to her.
Article 4 imposes positive obligations on the State to protect individuals, particularly children and other vulnerable people, including by means of penalisation and effective prosecution of acts contrary to Article 4. Slavery is the status of a person over whom powers attached to the right of ownership are exercised. Servitude is an obligation to provide one’s services that is imposed by the use of coercion. Forced or compulsory labour is work performed involuntarily and under the threat of a penalty.

Citations:

[2006] 43 EHRR 16, 73316/01, [2005] ECHR 545, [2005] 20 BHRC 654

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii, SIM

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 4

Cited by:

CitedNambalat v Taher and Another EAT 8-Dec-2011
nambalatEAT2011
EAT National Minimum Wage Act 1998
National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999, Reg. 2(2)
Unauthorised deductions from wages
All three Claimants were foreign domestic workers employed in the . .
CitedRegina v SK CACD 8-Jul-2011
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 . .
See AlsoSiliadin v France ECHR 2-Dec-2011
Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights . .
CitedHounga v Allen and Another SC 30-Jul-2014
The appellant, of Nigerian origin had been brought here at the age of 14 with false identity papers, and was put to work caring for the respondent’s children. In 2008 she was dismissed and ejected from the house. She brought proceedings alleging . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights

Updated: 03 July 2022; Ref: scu.229837