Dignity Degrading Treatment And Torture In Human Rights Law

Although scholars have shown longstanding interest in the boundaries of interpretation of the right not to be subjected to torture and other prohibited harm, the existing body of work does not sufficiently reflect the significance of the interpretive scope of degrading treatment. This book argues that the degrading treatment element of the right is a crucial site of analysis, in itself and for understanding the parameters of the right as a whole. It addresses how, methodologically, the scope of meaning and application of the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment should best be identified and considers the implications thereof. It systematically examines the diverse aspects of degrading treatment’s scope, from foundations of legal interpretation to the drivers of humiliation. It draws on wide-ranging literature and extensive analysis of more than 1,500 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, which has pioneered the right’s interpretive growth. The book aims to explore how the interpretive possibilities, and limits, of the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment turn upon the axes of human dignity and state responsibility, and aims to show how this right’s protection can be achieved as well as limited through processes of interpretation. Dignity, Degrading Treatment and Torture in Human Rights Law provides interpreters with analytical tools to advance the application of the right not to be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in international, regional and domestic human rights law. It will appeal to all who have an interest in understanding the right’s meaning, development, and potential scope of application, as well as those with an interest in methodologies of human rights interpretation.

"Published with the support of Austrian Science Fund (FWF): PUB 644-G."

Set against the rapid aging of the world's population, Human Rights and the Care of Older People explores the potential for the rule against torture and ill-treatment in international human rights law to better protect older people from care-related mistreatment. The book's analysis is broadly relevant but is prompted by the widespread reports of older people's suffering due to lack of access to care and coercion in respect of care needs. This includes the deprivation of liberty for 'care'. While recognizing that a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older people is on the horizon, the book argues that there is a pressing need for older people and all human rights actors to use and progressively interpret the established right to freedom from torture and ill-treatment. As an interpretive lens, the book offers a conception of a dignity violation that may amount to prohibited ill-treatment and thus trigger states' positive obligations to protect, including through systemic prevention measures. This book is intended as a tool for advocacy and a call for critical awareness, highlighting the anti-torture norm's potential for more effective application and challenging current legal barriers to such effectiveness. Meant for readers worldwide, the book addresses the rule against torture and ill-treatment from international law, regional European, Inter-American, and African perspectives. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

First published in 1998, this book seeks to consider the application of international human rights standards to situations where children are at risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Each of the contributors authoritatively examines torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment from the perspective of their own discipline and experience. In exploring the issues, Childhood Abused, also helps to raise their profile, as invisibility, ignorance and secrecy contribute to the continuation of such practices. The subject is harrowing and complex, Childhood Abused, needs to be read so that we are better able to prevent and protect children against such abhorrent and prohibited forms of ill-treatment.

Human rights are the subject of enduring interest, engagement and controversy both in the academic and public domain. Absolute human rights provoke such interest and controversy even more intensely. This book critically engages with the concept of absolute rights, and examines how the absolute character of the right enshrined in Article 3 of the ECHR, which provides that no one shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, informs the interpretation of the right. The book offers a persuasive theoretical framework for delimiting absolute rights in a way which remains faithful to their absolute nature. It counters broad-brush accounts of the delimitation of absolute rights and provides a nuanced account of the foundations, challenges, and pathways to such delimitation. Concretising these starting points, the book undertakes a rigorous and theoretically engaged legal analysis of the character and substantive scope of Article 3 of the ECHR in light of this framework. The book therefore serves as a theoretical and doctrinal study of a fundamental - but contested - area of human rights law.

This Research Handbook is of great importance in an era where torture, whilst universally condemned, remains endemic. It explores the nature of the international prohibition of torture and the various means and mechanisms which have been put in place by the international community in an attempt to make that prohibition a reality.