Failure to protect a mentally disabled woman from labour exploitation and sexual violence

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Gender Law Newsletter FRI 2025#2, 01.06.2025 - Newsletter abonnieren

EUROPE: HUMAN RIGHTS (DUTY TO PROTECT FROM EXPLOITATION AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE)

Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 27 February 2025, I.C. v. the Republic of Moldova (Application no. 36436/22)

The European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter ‘the Court’) has found that there had been a violation of Art. 4 ECHR because of a failure to protect a disabled woman from trafficking or servitude and to investigate properly on possible treatments contrary to Art. 4 ECHR. It had also ruled that there had been a violation of Art. 3 and 8 ECHR because of a failure to assess properly her allegations of sexual violence. Finally, it has held that there had been a violation of Art. 14 ECHR read in conjunction with these articles because of a discriminatory attitude of the authorities towards the applicant as a woman with intellectual disabilities during the criminal proceedings. The assessment of her allegations had indeed been based on stereotypes concerning persons with disabilities and the vulnerability of the applicant had not been taken into account during the criminal proceedings.

The case «concerned an intellectually disabled woman and her allegations that she had been forced to work for free and sexually abused after she had been removed in 2013 from State care to live on a farm (following a “deinstitutionalisation” procedure). She ran away after five years and, with the help of an NGO, lodged a complaint with the police against the couple who owned the farm. The ensuing court proceedings led to the couple’s acquittal.
The Court noted that there were laws in force in the Republic of Moldova prohibiting trafficking, slavery and forced labour and criminalising sexual violence. While the criminal laws were adequate, the legal and administrative framework concerning the removal from State care of persons with intellectual disabilities had flaws, particularly due to the lack of support services and monitoring. In the applicant’s case this had led to the authorities’ failure to take measures to protect her and/or to adequately investigate her allegations, as concerned either the labour exploitation or the rape. It found that the authorities had had a discriminatory attitude towards the applicant because she was a woman with an intellectual disability. They had notably not factored in overlapping elements of her vulnerability, failing to provide her with the possibility to obtain justice, despite her explicit and coherent grievances.»

Direct to the judgement (https://hudoc.echr.coe.int)