Overview
- The European Court of Human Rights formally asked the Home Office to answer four questions on the 2019 deprivation order, including whether it breached Article 4 and anti‑trafficking obligations.
- Judges queried whether removing citizenship was analogous to a penalty under the Council of Europe trafficking convention and whether the UK treated Begum as a potential trafficking victim.
- The court also asked if Begum was within the UK’s jurisdiction for Article 4 purposes at all material times and whether deprivation impeded a proper investigation into grooming and safeguarding failures.
- The Home Office said it will robustly defend the decision on national security grounds, while Begum’s lawyers called the move an unprecedented opportunity to test the state’s safeguarding duties.
- Begum remains in the al‑Roj camp in north‑east Syria after losing appeals in UK courts; the UK must file written responses within months before Strasbourg decides on the next stage.