Article 3

Right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: no-one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

Inhuman treatment is prohibited under this article which means that treatment which causes severe mental or physical harm must never occur. Degrading treatment means treatment that is grossly humiliating or undignified. Whether treatment reaches this threshold depends on various factors including the age, physical and mental health of the person who experiences harm and the power relationship involved. Duties under this right not only include refraining from an action or omission which results in inhuman or degrading treatment, but also taking reasonable positive steps to prevent ill-treatment, to protect those at immediate risk of ill-treatment and to provide effective remedies where ill-treatment occurs.

Treatment which reaches a certain level of severity will breach this right, for example, where children in care are at clear and immediate risk of serious physical or sexual abuse or neglect, where there is inappropriate use of force or restraint, such as handcuffs or solitary confinement, or inadequate personal care.

What this means for local authorities

Vulnerable people, such as children, people with a mental illness or people in care must be protected from physical or psychological abuse, not only by staff or officials, but also by others who are responsible for their care. Thus local authorities may have an obligation where they are aware of serious and immediate risk to children to remove them from the care of their parents to prevent serious neglect of abuse.

Case law examples

• In the case of Price v UK, the European Court of Human Rights decided that to detain a severely disabled person in police custody in conditions where she is dangerously cold, risked developing sores because her bed is too hard or unreachable, and is unable to go to the toilet or keep clean without the greatest of difficulty, constituted degrading treatment contrary to Article 3.

• In Napier v Scottish Ministers, the Court of Session decided that the conditions in prison for a particular prisoner with atopic excema, who required to “slop out” his toilet vessel contained in his cell, which he shared with another prisoner, amounted in such circumstances, given the size of his cell and the extent to which he was confined to it, to inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to Article 3.

• In Z v UK, the European Court of Human Rights found that a local authority was liable for a failure to protect four children from inhuman and degrading treatment, given that it was known that they were suffering from severe neglect and abuse at the hands of their parents for a four year period.