This article analyses the European Court of
Human Rights' 2010 decision in Rantsev v
Cyprus and Russia, which demonstrates the
Court's willingness to address sex
trafficking of women in Europe. This article
identifies a key problem in the Court's
analysis in Rantsev: its failure to
distinguish clearly between trafficking and
slavery. As it addresses Article 4 of the
European Convention on Human Rights, the
Court does not clarify the legal distinctions
between types of human exploitation including
forced labour, servitude or slavery.
Jean Allain, Rantsev v Cyprus and Russia: