A/HRC/36/43 The Court concluded that “the criminal-law legislation in force at the material time did not afford the applicant, a minor, practical and effective protection against the actions of which she was a victim”10 and that the State had violated its positive obligations under article 4 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which prohibits slavery, servitude and forced labour. 2. Obligation to ensure that offences involving slavery, servitude, practices and institutions similar to slavery and forced labour are investigated and prosecuted with due diligence 15. The due diligence standard imposes a positive duty on States to ensure the effective enforcement of their criminal law through effective investigation and prosecution of perpetrators. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice, in its 2008 case Hadijatou Mani Koraou v. The Republic of Niger, concerning a woman who had been sold at age of 12 to a local tribal chief and placed in a servile status, referred to the duty of States to investigate and prosecute crime. The laws of the Niger prohibited slavery and servitude, but when State officials were informed of the exploitation of the woman they took no action to protect her. The Court observed that “the national judge, when having to rule on a matter relating to the status of persons (as in the case of the applicant) should as soon as the case raises facts relating to servitude, deal with the case relating to servitude and follow the stipulated procedure for punishing the crime”.11 The Court concluded that the applicant had been a victim of slavery and that the Niger was responsible for its administrative and judicial authorities’ failure to act with regard to the practice. 16. In 2016, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a judgment in the case of Hacienda Brasil Verde Workers v. Brasil concerning the situation of workers, primarily men of African descent, coming from the country’s poorest states, who were subjected to slave labour in a privately owned estate located in the northern part of the country. The Court observed that the obligation to guarantee the right of freedom from slavery, recognized in article 6 of the American Convention on Human Rights, entails the duty of the State to prevent and investigate possible situations of slavery, servitude, trafficking in persons and forced labour.12 The Court considered that: States have the obligation to: initiate ex officio and immediately an effective investigation that enables the identification, prosecution and sanction of those responsible when there exists a complaint or serious reason to believe that persons under their jurisdiction are subjected to the practices stipulated in article 6.1 and 6.2 of the Convention (on slavery, involuntary servitude, traffic in women and forced labour); … conduct inspections or other measures to detect such practices; and adopt measures to protect and assist victims. The Court observed that, under the circumstances of the case, there was a special obligation to act with due diligence and that that obligation had not been fulfilled by the State.13 3. Obligation to provide a remedy to persons subjected to contemporary forms of slavery 17. The duty of a State to provide domestic legal remedy to victims of human rights violations for the harms suffered in their territory is well established in international and regional human rights instruments (see annex). The obligation of States to provide a remedy has two components: (a) justice for victims through procedural mechanisms 10 11 12 13 6 Ibid. paras. 148-149. ECOWAS Court of Justice, Judgment No. ECW/CCJ/JUD/06/08 of 27 October 2008, Hadijatou Mani Koraou v. The Republic of Niger, para. 82 (unofficial translation). Hacienda Brasil Verde Workers v. Brasil, American Convention on Human Rights, October 2016, para. 319 (unofficial translation). Ibid. para. 368.