The UK is ordered to pay £78,590 pounds in compensation to two Vietnamese men who were convicted of drug crimes despite signs they had been trafficked as children and forced to work on cannabis farms, Europe's top rights court has ruled.
According to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) the UK had failed to protect potential victims of child trafficking in a case dating back to 2009, and breached two articles relating to the prohibition of forced labour and the right to a fair trial. The British government has three months to decide whether to appeal the ruling at the ECHR's grand chamber.
"It's actually a game changer on the rights of all victims of trafficking to protection. This judgment will count for many victims today, tomorrow and in many years to come," said Parosha Chandran, a barrister who represented one of the two applicants in the case, in a statement to The Reuters.
In its ruling, the Strasbourg-based court outlined how the two Vietnamese applicants - referred to as V.C.L. and A.N. - were discovered working on cannabis farms in Britain in 2009, and charged with drugs offences to which they pleaded guilty.
