In its judgment in the case of I.C. v. the Republic of Moldova (application no. 36436/22), delivered on 27 February 2025, the European Court of Human Rights found that the Moldovan authorities’ failure to protect an intellectually disabled woman from labour exploitation and sexual abuse, and to effectively investigate her allegations, amounted to breaches of Articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), 4 (prohibition of forced labour), 8 (right to respect for private and family life), and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The case concerned a Moldovan woman with an intellectual disability who had always lived in State care until in 2013 she was taken by a couple to live on their farm and be the housewife of an employee on the farm. She alleged that the couple had forced her to work on the farm without pay and that the owner of the farm had repeatedly sexually abused her. After escaping in 2018, she contacted an NGO who helped her lodge a complaint with the police. Criminal cases were opened in relation to charges of rape, sexual abuse and human trafficking, but the ensuing criminal proceedings led to the acquittal of the couple who owned the farm.
The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) submitted a third-party intervention in this case concerning the prevention of human trafficking, the interpretation of the concept of “abuse of a position of vulnerability” as part of the offence of human trafficking, and the effective investigation and prosecution of human trafficking offences. The ECtHR referenced GRETA’s submissions and its second report on the Republic of Moldova in its reasoning.
The Court found that the framework concerning the removal from State care of people with intellectual disabilities who had been deprived of their legal capacity and its implementation in practice had failed to provide effective protection from trafficking and/or other forms of treatment contrary to Article 4. It also held that there had been a further violation of Article 4 as concerned the investigation into the applicant’s allegations, in particular a failure to follow up on some obvious lines of inquiry. Further, the Court found that the authorities had had a discriminatory attitude towards the applicant as a woman with an intellectual disability. They had thus failed to properly assess her vulnerability and provide procedural adjustments which might have given her the possibility of obtaining justice.
The judgment highlights the State’s obligation to put in place an appropriate legislative and administrative framework and to take protective measures against human trafficking of persons with intellectual disabilities, as well as to conduct effective investigations into allegations of human trafficking made by vulnerable victims.
Download the judgment: ECHR judgment in I.C. v. the Republic of Moldova
See also: ECHR case-law on human trafficking
