Human Trafficking Under the European Convention on Human Rights: Rantsev and Onwards

Abstract

The European Convention on Human Rights ECHR does not contain the term human trafficking in its text. The term has been included to Article 4 of the ECHR for the first time in 2010, through the Rantsev decision of the European Court of Human Rights ECtHR . The fact that all the applications regarding human trafficking submitted by women reveals the relationship between human trafficking and gender. Due to limited number of the applications and widely criticised decisions, the Court’s Article 4 jurisprudence is considered to be immature and have limited effect. This article aims to establish ECtHR’s approach to the human trafficking phenomenon as well as positive obligations of the Member States and concrete rights derived from Article 4 regarding human trafficking. In order to bring out the meaning of the term human trafficking in the accounts of the Court, definitions and the limits of the legal terms originally included in Article 4 should be determined and the distinctions between them and human trafficking should be clarified. This last emphasize is the reason why this work shall also be considered as a general review of the evolution of Article 4 jurisprudence. This work can be seen as a contribution to a major gap of the related Turkish literature. Besides, it aims to show the inevitable connections between gender unequality and the Article 4

Keywords

• human trafficking,slavery,ECHR,Rantsev,positive obligations

Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesinde İnsan Ticareti: Rantsev ve Sonrası

Abstract

Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi’nde AİHS yer almayan bir kavram olan insan ticareti, ilk kez 2010 yılında Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi’nin Rantsev kararıyla AİHS’nin 4. maddesi kapsamına alınmıştır. İnsan ticareti çerçevesinde yapılmış tüm başvuruların kadınlar tarafından yapılmış olması, bu olgunun toplumsal cinsiyetle ilişkisini göstermektedir. Bu çalışmada AİHM’nin insan ticareti olgusuna yaklaşımı, insan ticareti bakımından Taraf Devletlere getirdiği pozitif yükümlülükler ve güvence altına aldığı haklar belirlenmeye çalışılacaktır. İnsan ticareti kavramının AİHM nezdindeki anlamını belirleyebilmek için 4. maddedeki diğer kavramlar olan kölelik, kulluk ve zorla çalıştırma yasağının kapsama alanı ve insan ticaretinin bunlardan ayrıştığı noktaların da belirlenmesi gerektiğinden, çalışma aynı zamanda AİHM’nin 4. madde içtihadına genel bir bakış niteliği de taşımaktadır. Bu yönüyle bu çalışmanın Türkçe literatürdeki önemli bir eksikliğin tamamlanmasına katkı sunacağı ve 4. maddenin toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliğiyle olan kaçınılmaz bağını göstereceği umulmaktadır

Keywords

• insan ticareti,kölelik,AİHS,Rantsev,pozitif yükümlülükler

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