scholarly journals Prevention of Torture and Cruel or Inhuman and Degrading Treatment in Healthcare

2017 ◽  
pp. 263-290
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 194 ◽  
pp. 531-680

531Human rights — Rights of women in Northern Ireland — Pregnant women and girls — Autonomy and bodily integrity — Right to respect for private and family life — Rights of persons with disabilities — Right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment — Abortion law in Northern Ireland — Prohibition on abortion in cases of serious malformation of foetus, rape and incest — Balancing of rights — Whether moral and political issues relevant — Role of courts and Parliament — Whether abortion law incompatible with Articles 3 and 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeHuman rights — Right to respect for private and family life — Qualified right — Abortion law in Northern Ireland — Prohibition on abortion in cases of serious malformation of foetus, rape and incest — Interference with right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether interference justified — Whether interference prescribed by law — Whether having legitimate aim — Whether necessary in democratic society — Whether proportionate — In case of fatal foetal abnormality — In case of rape — In case of incest — In case of serious foetal abnormality — Balancing of rights — European Court of Human Rights — Margin of appreciation accorded to United Kingdom represented by Northern Ireland Assembly — Whether legislative situation in Northern Ireland tenable — Role of legislature and courts — Whether Northern Ireland abortion law incompatible with Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeHuman rights — Rights of persons with disabilities — Treaties — United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 — Northern Ireland abortion law prohibiting abortion in cases of serious malformation of the foetus — Foetus having potential to develop into child with disability in cases of serious foetal abnormality — Value of life with and without disability — Whether life having equal worth — United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recommending States amend abortion laws so as to value equally the life of a person with disabilities — Whether Northern Ireland abortion law disproportionate in cases of serious foetal abnormality — Whether abortion law in Northern Ireland incompatible with Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be made532Human rights — Right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment — Article 3 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Rights of girls and women in Northern Ireland pregnant with foetuses with fatal abnormality or due to rape or incest — Article 3 absolute right — Effect on victim — Whether mothers continuing against their will with fatal foetal abnormality pregnancies or pregnancies due to rape or incest, or having to travel to England for an abortion, likely to suffer inhuman and degrading treatment — Whether any ill-treatment under Article 3 reaching minimum level of severity — Obligations owed by the State under Article 3 of European Convention — Vulnerability of women — Personal autonomy — Whether abortion law in Northern Ireland incompatible with Article 3 of European Convention — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeRelationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — Implementation — Interpretation — Effect in domestic law — International treaties to which United Kingdom a party — European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Human Rights Act 1998 — United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 — United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 — Whether moral and political issues relevant — Balancing of rights — Northern Ireland abortion law interfering with right under Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether interference justified — Whether prescribed by law — Whether having legitimate aim — Whether necessary in democratic society — Whether proportionate — Relevance of moral and political views — Role of courts and Parliament in abortion debate — Whether pregnant women and girls subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment — Whether reaching minimum level of severity for breach of Article 3 of European Convention — Whether Northern Ireland abortion law incompatible with Articles 3 and 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 Convention — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeRelationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Effect in domestic law — Abortion law in Northern Ireland — Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 — Section 25(1) of the Criminal Justice Act (NI) 1945 — Right to respect for private and family life — Right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment — Whether abortion law in 533Northern Ireland incompatible with Article 8 of European Convention — Balancing of rights — Whether abortion law justified — Whether moral and political values relevant — Margin of appreciation accorded to States by European Court of Human Rights — Whether abortion law in Northern Ireland incompatible with Articles 3 and 8 of European Convention — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeTreaties — Interpretation — Implementation — Application — Effect in domestic law — European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Interpreting European Convention in light of other international treaties to which United Kingdom a party — United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 — United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 — Relevance of unincorporated international treaties when applying European Convention via Human Rights Act 1998 — The law of the United Kingdom


Author(s):  
John Vorhaus

Under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, degrading treatment and punishment is absolutely prohibited. This paper examines the nature of and wrong inherent in treatment and punishment of this kind. Cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) as amounting to degrading treatment and punishment under Article 3 include instances of interrogation, conditions of confinement, corporal punishment, strip searches, and a failure to provide adequate health care. The Court acknowledges the degradation inherent in imprisonment generally, and does not consider this to be in violation of Article 3, but it also identifies a threshold at which degradation is so severe as to render impermissible punishments that cross this threshold. I offer an account of the Court’s conception of impermissible degradation as a symbolic dignitary harm. The victims are treated as inferior, as if they do not possess the status owed to human beings, neither treated with dignity nor given the respect owed to dignity. Degradation is a relational concept: the victim is brought down in the eyes of others following treatment motivated by the intention to degrade, or treatment which has a degrading effect. This, so I will argue, is the best account of the concept of degradation as deployed by the Court when determining punishments as in violation of Article 3.


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