Human rights

The court had previously held that Art 4 of the Convention entailed a specific positive obligation on member states to penalise and prosecute effectively any act aimed at maintaining a person in a situation of slavery, servitude or forced or compulsory labour. In order for a positive obligation to take operational measures to arise in the circumstances of a particular case, it had to be demonstrated that the state authorities had been aware, or ought to have been aware that an identified individual had been, or was at real and immediate risk of being subjected to such treatment. In the case of an answer in the affirmative, there would be a violation of Art 4 where the authorities had failed to take appropriate measures within the scope of their powers to remove the individual from that situation or risk. Article 4 also entailed a procedural obligation to investigate where there was a credible suspicion that an individual’s rights under that article had been violated.