Trafficking and slavery: the emerging European legal framework on trafficking in human beings – case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in perspective

Although the legal notion of slavery has been defined in article 1 of the 1926 Slavery Convention, it is currently being widely used to encompass various practices of abuse, oppression and exploitation. Trafficking in human beings is one such practice, extensively being referred to as a contemporary form of slavery. This article attempts to establish the legal criteria on the basis of which trafficking in human beings can constitute slavery and to define states’ obligations deriving from it, in the light of the recent relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, and to highlight its impact to the current European anti-trafficking regulatory framework.