Why are they prosecuting children who grow cannabis?
think piece is a reaction to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case of
V.C.L. and A.N. v the United Kingdom [Applications nos. 77587/12 and 74603/12], addressing the prosecution of human trafficking victims in light of Article 4 (prohibition of slavery, servitude and forced labour) of the
European Convention on Human Rights. However, this is not a breakdown of the law, or an analysis of the ECtHR’s approach to human trafficking legislation, including the principles of non-prosecution and non-punishment, or even a conceptualization of what the principle truly entails.
Instead, I want to use this case as a catalyst to take a few steps back. I want us to stop and think and ask the axiomatic question: what did the Crown Prosecution Service [CPS] for England and Wales hope to achieve when it decided to prosecute two Vietnamese children for growing cannabis? To summaries:
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Never has there been a better time to familiarise yourself with the European Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT) – if that’s your thing.
Upon the UK’s exit from the European Union, survivors of trafficking and modern slavery in the UK lost the protection of EU anti-trafficking directive 2011/36/EU. But, for as long as the UK remains party to the Council of Europe, they do at least have recourse to ECAT.
The aim of the book, according to its editors (both of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights in Vienna) is to provide in compact format a clarification of concepts used in the convention. I would say it does that and more.
Read more about the election process by the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.
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