(Middle East Eye) The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has called on the UK government to explain its decision to strip a British woman of her citizenship after she fled to Syria as a 15-year-old to join the Islamic State (IS) group.
In late December, the Strasbourg court sent a series of questions to the British government, asking whether it broke anti-trafficking obligations when it stripped Shamima Begum of her citizenship in 2019.
The questions include whether the government violated Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits slavery, servitude, forced labour, and a state’s duty to prevent and investigate trafficking.
Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Begum of her citizenship on national security grounds after his office said that the deprivation was “conducive to the public good” and that not doing so posed a threat to the UK.
