Parosha Chandran scores Article 4 ECHR hat-trick in the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of victims of human trafficking

24 Oct 2024

Parosha Chandran succeeded today in the European Court of Human Rights in another unanimous judgment of the ECtHR under Article 4 ECHR against Slovakia (B.B.v.Slovakia, Application no. 48587/21) on behalf of a highly vulnerable victim of human trafficking.

The case concerned domestic proceedings in Slovakia in response to an allegation of human trafficking that was brought by Ms B.B., a person of Roma ethnicity with learning disabilities who from birth was brought up in an orphanage/State care in Slovakia. After leaving the orphanage aged 19, she was degradingly exploited by a family who took her in, following which they sold her to a human trafficker who trafficked her to the United Kingdom in 2010, where she was forced into sexual exploitation for at least a year. On her return to Slovakia she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which arose as a result of her exploitation and experiences in the UK. The NGO Caritas Slovakia formally identified her as a victim of trafficking and asked the police to open a criminal investigation into her case.

The Slovakian domestic authorities charged and convicted the perpetrator of her exploitation with the criminal offence of pimping instead of human trafficking, resuting in her being forced out of the specialist care available for human trafficking victims that was being provided to her by Caritas Slovakia.  Assisted by lawyers, principally Roman Dula, Caritas Slovakia and B.B. challenged the reclassification of the offence with which her trafficker had been charged, arguing that by failing to properly investigate the crime of human trafficking and by charging the perpetrator with the lesser offence of pimping, the Slovak authorities had violated her rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, including Art 4 ECHR. Flaws in the pre-trial and trial processes which had affected B.B. were also carefully identified and argued both in the domestic proceedings and also before the ECtHR.

Parosha Chandran was instructed following the Court’s communication of the case in 2023 when the applicant’s lawyer, Roman Dula was appointed a judge and he ceased practicing as an attorney, and she settled the detailed pleadings to the ECtHR in BB’s case.

Today, in a unanimous judgment of the ECtHR under Art 4 ECHR, the Court found that Slovakia failed to carry out an effective investigation into a credible suspicion of human trafficking, that despite circumstances being indicative of human trafficking, the domestic authorities had limited their efforts to establishing the offence of pimping which carried lighter penalties and for which the perpetrator was convicted. The Court took into account a wealth of relevant background evidence confirming persistent international criticism of the domestic courts’ lenient sentencing in human trafficking and the respondent State’s lack of effectiveness of counter-trafficking efforts. In finding significant flaws in the domestic proceedings and a failure by the domestic authorities to take all reasonable steps to collect evidence the Court also focussed on the absence of any assessment of the “means’ of trafficking that were used to recruit the Applicant, particularly abuse of a position of vulnerability (APOV), to clarify the circumstances of the case, finding the Slovak authorities had failed to demonstrate “an understanding of the many subtle ways and individual can fall under the control of another”. The Court also found the failure to pursue obvious line of inquiry was aggravated by the length of proceedings. The Court awarded the Applicant a high award of compensation, €26,000, and legal costs.

Parosha Chandran was first instructed by lawyers in Slovakia and then by Raja Rajeswaran Uruthiravinayagan at Duncan Lewis Solicitors Ltd.

This case marks the third unanimous judgment under Article 4 ECHR in three years for Parosha Chandran in the European Court of Human Rights!

The Court’s judgment can be found here: CASE OF B.B. v. SLOVAKIA

B.B. said:

“There is justice at last. I hope that no other girl or woman will have to go through what I had to.

Thank you Charitas Slovakia for supporting me and for the lawyers who have fought for me”.

Caritas Slovakia (Slovenska katolicka charita), the NGO that supported the Applicant in the domestic proceedings and in the ECtHR said:

“Whilst the quality of human trafficking legislation domestically, regionally and globally is evolving towards a change in the view of the position of the injured party in exercising their rights in the criminal proceedings, in fact very often the injured party is still left behind. The theory advances in favour of the injured party, but as this case starkly show, the application in practice remains behind.

It is necessary for the prosecuting authorities to carefully consider that abuse of a position of vulnerability (APOV) and non-violent/subtle coercion are particularly frequent means used by perpetrators against victims in human trafficking cases. 

We believe this judgement is a milestone for the abuse of vulnerability to be better understood and applied by the competent authorities, including the police, prosecutors and the courts. The authorities must take reasonable steps to examine all the facts and clarify the circumstances of the case with a particular attention to the level of a trafficked person’s vulnerability. For an investigation to be effective and in order to collect all relevant evidence, effective investigative tools have to be available. Only in this way will the victims of HT be able to exercise their rights as injuries parties fully and effectively.

We extend our thanks to Mr Dula for his dedication and invaluable legal support throughout this process whilst he was our lawyer acting in the domestic proceedings for B.B. and in the ECtHR before becoming a judge.  

We express our profound gratitude to Ms Parosha Chandran for fighting this case in the European Court of Human Rights and for her extensive expertise and commitment in being the voice of the voiceless and for securing justice for BB. It was a lifetime experience for us to have a world-renowned expert successfully represent the case and this will continue to motivate and inspire us through any future challenges that may lie ahead.” 

Roman Dula, who represented the Applicant in the domestic proceedings and in the ECtHR until he became a judge and referred the case to Parosha Chandran (shortly after the Court communicated the case) said:

“This is a case of a complete failure by a State (at all possible stages) to take into account the vulnerable position of a victim of human trafficking and the abuse of that vulnerability by a human trafficker. 

I am very pleased that after years of representing B.B. before the domestic courts in Slovakia and in the early stages before European Court of Human Rights, Parosha Chandran was able to take on B.B.’s case and put all of her skills and expertise into representing B.B. after I had completed my legal practice as an attorney and had become a judge. 

Thank you Parosha for bringing your dedication, knowledge and passion to B.B.’s case enabling such a successful outcome for her in the European Court of Hunan Rights today. 

Your cooperation was professional and extremely beneficial for B.B. 

Special thanks belong to Charitas Slovakia (Slovenska katolicka charita), which for many years has been helping B.B., ever since she returned to Slovakia after being trafficked to the UK. 

Thanks also go to Raja Rajeswaran Uruthiravinayagan and Juraj Takac for their support. 

And last but not least, I wish to remark that I am astonished by courage of B.B. who, having suffered so much throughout the lengthy and painful court proceedings in Slovakia, was determined to take her case to Strasbourg with aim that no other victim of human trafficking would have to re-live what she had experienced. 

It is owing to her that we all are able to receive the Court’s landmark judgment in her case today, an important ruling that highlights the vulnerabilities of victims of human trafficking and the requirements on States to fulfil their legal obligations under Art 4 ECHR.”

Notes:

The case was referred to Parosha Chandran by the Slovakian judge Roman Dula, who had to cease acting for B.B. as her lawyer in the ECtHR when he was appointed a full-time judge.

Parosha Chandran was instructed first by a law firm in Slovakia, and then in October 2023 by Raja Rajeswaran Uruthiravinayagan at Duncan Lewis Solicitors.

Following her formidable successes in representing applicants before the European Court of Human Rights in A.N. v United Kingdom (non-punishment protection, application nos. 77587/12 and 74603/12: https://bit.ly/40ozw0O) and T.V, v. Spain (significant reasons required for dismissal of trafficking prosecutions against perpetrators, application no. 22512/21: https://bit.ly/3ZUDE8M), this brings Parosha Chandran’s success in representing human trafficking victims in their cases before the European Court of Human Rights to three in three years, with each case involving a unanimous judgment of the Court on Article 4 ECHR!