Facilitating (Further) Inhumanity: On the Prospect of Losing Article 3 ECHR, a Vital Guarantee for the Under-Protected

Article 3 of the ECHR encompasses an absolute right not to be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This right proscribes, and demands protection from, treatment which is antithetical to human dignity. Over the years, what amounts to such treatment – and the obligations flowing therefrom – has been the subject of extensive interpretation by the ECtHR and domestic courts. Applicable in many contexts beyond the conventional scenario of interrogational torture, the right’s significance – and much of the backlash it has attracted – lies chiefly in the protections it demands for persons who fall through the cracks of the political process. This comment contemplates what is at stake, in terms of Article 3’s protections, in a potential UK departure from the ECHR, and concludes that a loss of the protection offered under Article 3 ECHR would facilitate (further) inhumanity, particularly against persons who are already othered, under-protected, and victimised.