Inhuman Treatment Research Articles

Torture and inhuman treatment in the context of the relevant practice of the European Court of Human Rights

The article examines the problems of torture and ill-treatment in the relevant practice of the European Court of Human Rights. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the Convention) has become an important place in the practice of application of criminal law of Ukraine. After analyzing some practice ECtHR about violation of Article 3 of the Convention, the forms of torture and inhuman treatment were singled out. These include: improper investigation, improper treatment of convicts, improper medical care of convicts, threats of torture, ignoring allegations of threats of torture or ill-treatment, etc.It was found that despite numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against Ukraine, both certain provisions of law and practice of their application continue to contradict the provisions of the Convention, in particular Article 3.It is established that currently the problem of treatment of people by law enforcement agencies and other state representatives is urgent and systemic.The paper proposes that some European experience should be borrowed in providing a real mechanism for the protection of human rights and freedoms. Reforms are needed to ensure the effective participation of victims in criminal proceedings and the use of incentives, as well as the practice of compensating victims. It seems that given the accompanying circumstances, failure to provide the victim with a real opportunity to participate in criminal proceedings, as well as the lack of informing the victims about the progress of the investigation can be considered as inhuman treatment within the meaning of Art. 3 of the Convention.

Health professionals confront the intentional harms of indefinite immigration detention: an Australian overview, evaluation of alternative responses and proposed strategy

PurposeIndefinite immigration detention causes well-documented harms to mental health, and international condemnation and resistance leave it undisrupted. Health care is non-independent from immigration control, compromising clinical ethics. Attempts to establish protected, independent clinical review and subvert the system via advocacy and political engagement have had limited success.The purpose of this study is to examine the following: how indefinite detention for deterrence (exemplified by Australia) injures asylum-seekers; how international legal authorities confirm Australia’s cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; how detention compromises health-care ethics and hurts health professionals; to weigh arguments for and against boycotting immigration detention; and to discover how health professionals might address these harms, achieving significant change.Design/methodology/approachSecondary data analyses and ethical argumentation were employed.FindingsAustralian Governments fully understand and accept policy-based injuries. They purposefully dispense cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and intend suffering that causes measurable harms for arriving asylum-seekers exercising their right under Australian law. Health professionals are ethically conflicted, not wanting to abandon patients yet constrained. Indefinite detention prevents them from alleviating sufferings and invites collusion, potentially strengthening harms; thwarts scientific inquiry and evidence-based interventions; and endangers their health whether they resist, leave or remain. Governments have primary responsibility for detained asylum-seekers’ health care. Health professional organisations should negotiate the minimum requirements for their members’ participation to ensure independence, and prevent conflicts of interest and inadvertent collaboration with and enabling systemic harms.Originality/valueAustralia’s aggressive approach may become normalised, without its illegality being determined. Health professional colleges uniting over conditions of participation would foreground ethics and pressure governments internationally over this contagious and inexcusable policy.

Trauma, psychosocial factors and coping mechanisms among first-generation Rwandan refugees living in Zambia

This paper explores trauma, psychosocial factors and coping strategies among Rwandan refugees in Zambia. Using a qualitative interpretative research design, 22 participants were purposively selected from the townships in Lusaka. Two focus group discussions for males and females were conducted. The discussions were audiotaped, transcribed, coded and analysed based on the objectives of the study. The findings indicate that Rwandan refugees have experienced adverse traumatic encounters as a result of atrocities witnessed during the 1994 genocide. The findings also show that the journey to Zambia was punctuated with challenges and inhumane treatment. The study revealed that participants resorted to social support, religious, spiritual, cultural beliefs and practices as their coping strategies. These offer insightful resources for policymakers and future research.

Holding Together, Coming Together or Putting Together? A [Re]examination on the Formation of Ethiopia’s Federation

Federations are institutional and structural arrangements with the tenets of shared rule and self-rule. These federations may be formed through coming together, holding together or putting together processes. Both holding together and coming together federations are established through democratic bargain while putting together federation is imposed coercively by the winners. Hence, this article aims to situate Ethiopia in to one of these three variants through critical [re]examination of the transitional activities. The data were collected through interviews and document analysis. A qualitative analysis was employed to analyze the data. Accordingly, the paper argues that Ethiopia is a putting together federation because of the major flaws committed during the transition. Particularly, the absence of an organization that could represent Amhara during the Peace Conference, exclusion of the major political organizations from the conference and the aftermath processes as well as the inhuman and extrajudicial treatments against those who were explaining their discontent in the restructuring processes are some of the justification to level Ethiopia’s federation as putting together. Moreover, the electoral frauds that forced the major political parties to boycott the elections (the 1992 and 1994 elections) and the manipulation of the drafting and ratification processes of the constitution by TPLF/EPRDF can justify this position. Hence, it is recommended to restructure the federation through democratic bargaining for the putting nature of the federation is facing a legitimacy crisis due to the different questions rooted in the formation processes.

Human Dignity Concepts in Judicial Reasoning. Study of National and International Law

Many modern legal systems declare, that protection of human dignity plays an important role in its construction. Therefore, a question may be asked if the concept of dignity is similar in different legal systems. The following paper presents the results of the research on human dignity concepts in reasoning of national (Polish and German Supreme Courts) and international courts (ICC, ECHR). Both national systems provide a constitutional protection of human dignity, Rome Statute, which constitutes the ICC, prohibits behaviours infringing dignity (model of Geneva Conventions), whereas the European Convention of Human Rights does not include the term “human dignity”, only prohibition of torture or “inhuman or degrading treatment”, what is understood as protection of dignity. On the basis of the research there could be stated, that each legal system has developed its own concept of human dignity, although all concepts have a similar core, as nearly all ways of understanding “protection of human dignity” are combined with a commitment to respect each person. This kind of respect could be assumed as a basis of human dignity protection.

Национальный превентивный механизм — новая система государственно-общественного контроля, способствующая обеспечению законности деятельности администраций мест принудительного содержания в Российской Федерации

The problem of the use of torture and violence by employees of places of detention against persons who are there has been relevant in Russia for more than a decade. The purpose of the work is to substantiate the need to create legal conditions for increasing the level of legality in the activities of administrations of places of detention and the effectiveness of protecting human rights and freedoms in such places. There are few scientific works on this problem in Russia. The research methodology is based on general scientific and special methods of scientific knowledge, including dialectical, logical, systemic, formal legal and statistical. It is concluded that an increase in the level of legality in the activities of administrations of places of detention is possible as a result of the signing and ratification by the Russian Federation of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which provides for the creation on the basis of the principles enshrined in it a new unified preventive system for monitoring the observance of human rights in places of detention — the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). The scientific and practical significance of the study lies in proposing a conceptual change in the existing system of state and public control over the observance of law in places of detention in Russia.

In Search of a Forum for the Families of the Guantanamo Disappeared

The United States government has committed grave human rights violations by disappearing people during the past decade into the detention camps in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And for nearly thirty years, beginning with a 1983 decision from a case arising in Uruguay, there has been a well-developed body of international law establishing that parents, wives and children of the disappeared suffer torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CID). This paper argues that the rights of family members were severely violated when their loved ones were disappeared into Guantanamo. Family members of men disappeared by the United States have legitimate claims for torture or CID against the government under both international law and American law. However, rather than providing a forum to address the plaintiffs' sufferings of egregious human rights violations, the United States seeks to block all claims and evade accountability. In skirting claims, the United States has proven to be a powerful and skilled adversary both domestically and internationally. My work with the Witness to Guantanamo project -- in which we have filmed full-length interviews of former detainees and others, including military and government officials who have lived or worked in Guantanamo and family members of former detainees -- has inspired me to write this article, and informs its content. Our nation must address its human rights violations.

PREVENTION OF TORTURE: NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM IN UKRAINE AND SOME MEMBER STATES OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

The purpose of the article is to reveal four existing models of the National Preventive Mechanism and to highlight the functioning of the National Preventive Mechanism in Ukraine and some other member states of The Council of Europe. On 18th of December 2002 UN General Assembly adopted a resolution # 57/199 which confirmed the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This document was ratified by the twentieth country on 22nd of July 2006 and the same day entered into force. Majority of countries of the world are now trying to reduce the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture in order to achieve this goal. The authors highlighted four existing models of the National Preventive Mechanism in the world. Special attention is paid to the functioning of the National Preventive Mechanism in Ukraine and some other member states of the Council of Europe. They also paid attention to the fact that in majority of the countries the process of forming and giving functions to NPM is at the stage of formation. Currently, there are countries that have already ratified the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture, but for some unspecified reasons have not established an NPM. Such kind of situation is being observed in Europe (Belgium, Finland), Latin America (Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay) and Africa (Congo, Guinea, Ghana, South Africa, Togo). In addition, there are countries that have not ratified the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture at all, such as the United States of America. As for the existing NPM models, in the authors's opinion, the most successful model is "ombudsman+". This model has a number of positive features, one of which is the ability of the Commissioner for human rights (Ombudsman) to work closely with various organizations and attract specialists from various fields. This makes it possible to conduct more thorough monitoring of places of detention. The Commissioner for Human Rights also has the opportunity to assign certain functions of the NPM to non-governmental organizations that have their own certain authority in society. But this model cannot be considered as ideal, because it also has certain problems that need to be improved. For example, when choosing a non-governmental organization, it is necessary to evaluate the main range of activities of this organization. The organization's participation as a part of civil society in monitoring visits should not be formal, as such a fact may negatively affect the functioning of the NPM.

ПОЛИЦИЈСКА ТОРТУРА КАО ВИД КРШЕЊА ЉУДСКИХ ПРАВА

Тhe protection of human rights is one of primary goals of police work in democratic societies. However, no society is immune to the various forms of illegal police work. Some of them, like police torture, are the hardest forms of illegal police activity and the inhuman treatment of citizens as well. The paper focuses on the aspects that appear to be essential, so the paper considers the most important aspects of the phenomenon of "police torture" - the basic meanings, causes, ways and consequences of its manifestation. Our goal is to remove certain doubts in the interpretation of this phenomenon, but also to increase the interest in investigating the appearance of torture in the police. Such a scientific study has not been conducted so far, so there is a need for further comprehensive investigations of the "police torture" phenomenon.

MAKNA PENDERITAAN YESUS DI KAYU SALIB (EKSEGETIS LUKAS 23:33-43) DAN REFLEKSINYA BAGI UMAT KRISTEN MASA KINI

The purpose of this study is to interpret the Gospel of Luke 23: 33-43 in providing a picture of Jesus' Suffering on the cross showing all people of love that does not avenge evil deeds. The love shown above the ferocity of human sin so that humans can repent and believe in Him as the Messiah. Even though He knew that sinful men crucified Him because there was an element of ignorance, but Jesus was willing to accept it in place of the punishment of all people, so that the gospel or the tidings of joy might come true on earth. The inhumane treatment and humiliation that He received from all parties were rewarded with love which was the gift of the salvation of all people. This is the motto for believers to continue to forgive each other, even at the cost of His pride and life. The research method in writing this Scientific work is a qualitative method namely the Exegetical study approach. The interpretation method used is of course by using the following conditions and steps: book recognition, text analysis, textual criticism by comparing the opinions of experts and analyzing them, comparison of translations, general context and special context, Literary Forms, Sitz im Leben, aspects of government and politics, Socio-Economic Aspects, religious aspects, verse-by-verse interpretation, overall and skopus interpretation, Reflections for today's Christians. Based on Jesus' Suffering on the cross Luke 23: 33-43. The conclusion is that the Cross of Christ is a sign of a Christian life where humans have been reconciled by God, and justified with God, therefore, humans have redemption from God. So the warning that we do is our motivation to be more enthusiastic about living this life, moreover the spirit of preaching the love of God in the midst of our lives.

R v. Reeves Taylor (U.K. Sup. Ct.)

On November 13, 2019, the U.K. Supreme Court issued a judgment in R v. Reeves Taylor, holding that members of non-state armed groups may, under certain circumstances, qualify as “officials” for purposes of § 134(1) of the Criminal Justice Act of 1988 (CJA). The Court's decision and reasoning represent an important contribution to case law interpreting the scope of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) as concerns conduct by individuals who are not public officials at the time of the alleged abuse.

The Rights of the Child and a Problem of Immigration Detention

The problem of children immigration detention will be explored based on the analysis of international human rights law and international refugee law. Preliminary remarks will elaborate on how migration detention impacts on the exercise of the rights of the child, focusing, in particular, on the deleterious influence this measure exerts on the child’s mental well-being. Next, the principle of using child migration detention as a measure of last resort will be analysed in light of international standards. The practical implementation of this principle calls for observing the standards for individual assessment of the particular situation of each immigrant child. This includes treating the minors first and foremost as children, and only then as immigrants. Another key element is the area of the state’s positive obligations. International case law has increasingly called for an absolute obligation to first provide the child or the family with a child with an alternative to the detention measure. This involves the need to establish the necessary infrastructure that would allow for such an alternative solution. Furthermore, in a situation where detention is necessary, it should be exercised while accommodating the needs of families with children. As will be demonstrated, nonfeasance and negligence lead, in the most extreme cases, to their being recognised as violation of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Nociones para la interpretación y delimitación del nuevo delito de apremios ilegítimos u otros tratos crueles, inhumanos o degradantes

En el marco de las recientes reformas realizada al Código Penal, tanto por la Ley N° 20.968 como por la Ley N° 21.013, el objetivo principal de este trabajo es interpretar la figura base del nuevo delito de apremios ilegítimos u otros tratos crueles, inhumanos o degradantes, de forma de contribuir a delimitar y aclarar sus elementos típicos, tanto objetivos como subjetivos. Con ello, el trabajo pretende ofrecer además una caracterización e identificación de la figura que permita deslindarla de otros tipos relacionados, principalmente, de la tortura y del maltrato a menores de 18 años, adultos mayores y personas en situación de discapacidad.

The Confluence of National and International Law in Response to Multinational Corporations’ Commission of Modern Slavery: Nevsun Resources Ltd. V. Araya

ABSTRACT This article examines the recently decided Canadian striking out application of SCC 5, a case in which the Supreme Court of Canada held, in a 5–4 decision, that a private corporation may be liable under Canadian law for breaches of customary international law committed in other countries. The article assesses the majority’s holding that a sui generis domestic cause of action grounded in customary international law exists in Canada to combat slavery, servitude, forced labor, and inhuman and degrading treatment. While it considers the ruling to be a landmark one which will likely have serious implications in respect of the manner in which private corporations engage in activities in supply chains abroad, it nonetheless highlights a number of theoretical and practical weaknesses inherent in the majority’s holding, which necessarily require the trial judge’s fulsome attention.

La prohibición de la tortura: derecho humano

Torture is a crime linked to serious human rights violations. To prevent, investigate, sanction and eradicate it, represents one of the biggest challenges when it comes to justice and human rights within our country, which currently holds high levels of impunity, and requires new and better investigation techniques, methods and strategies, that will allow meeting the demands for access to justice requested by the victims of these crimes. People deprived of their liberty (PDL) are demanding that all acts of torture itself become the subject of an investigation conducted by a multidisciplinary team in which lawyers, doctors and psychologists participate, based on the guidelines constituted in the Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, commonly known as the Istanbul Protocol.

International legal standards for ensuring the right of minors deprived of liberty to health

The article analyzes the general and special international legal acts in the field of regulation of the right to the highest standard of living (right to health) of minors deprived of liberty, in particular: Declaration of the Rights of the Child, 1924, United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, 1959, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, United Nations Minimum Standard Rules on the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules), 1985, United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The Riyadh Guidelines), 1990, UN General Assembly special resolutions on the protection of the rights of the child, including children deprived of their liberty, etc. The emphasis is placed on key problematic aspects of the protection of the right to health of minors deprived of their liberty, in particular: the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; harm to the mental and physical health of children in all situations of imprisonment; the spread of sexually transmitted infections. The article focuses on the special needs of children with disabilities. Given the existing problems of drug use, which contribute to the spread of infectious diseases among the categories of prisoners, cause significant harm to the health of minors, attention is focused on the characteristics of special rules in this area. Given the fact that the emergence and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a modern threat and a challenge to health of population in general, including persons deprived of their liberty, attention is paid to international acts, which set out recommendations to protect this category of persons during the pandemic. Relevant conclusions and recommendations have been made to improve the status of minors deprived of their liberty.

Internment or Assigned Residence of Palestinian Protected Persons without Trial or Charge: Victims of War Crimes

Abstract This article examines internment or assigned residence of protected persons without trial or charge under the laws and customs of war. It then explores Israel’s (as the Occupying Power) resort to such measures and the role of its judiciary. It further considers the grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention (war crime) of deportation of scores of Palestinian persons to prisons and detention centres outside the frontiers of their occupied territory. Simultaneously, it considers how the violations of the rules and procedures on internment or assigned residence have amounted to four grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention (war crimes). These are: inhuman treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful confinement and wilfully depriving a protected person of the right to fair and lawful trial.

Wolność sumienia i religii sprawców szczególnie niebezpiecznych (art. 88a i 88b k.k.w.)

Wolność sumienia i religii należy do katalogu podstawowych praw człowieka. Jednak realizacja związanych z tym uprawnień w przypadku skazanych niebezpiecznych została ograniczona przez konieczność ich wykonywania w warunkach oddziału, w pomieszczeniach o wysokim stopniu zabezpieczenia ochronnego. Również kontakt skazanych niebezpiecznych z innymi osobami (w tym także duchownym) ograniczono w sposób maksymalny. Ustawodawca uznał, że stosowanie ograniczeń w realizacji uprawnień sprawców szczególnie niebezpiecznych jest potrzebne do zapewnienia bezpieczeństwa zakładu karnego. Jednak wprowadzone obostrzenia można także uznać za element nieludzkiego traktowania, zwłaszcza wówczas, gdy ich stosowanie jest niewspółmierne wobec zagrożenia więziennego bezpieczeństwa. Nadużycia mogą występować zwłaszcza wtedy, gdy administracja więzienna sama decyduje o skali istniejącego w więzieniu zagrożenia. Stąd też konieczne są zmiany przepisów Kodeksu karnego wykonawczego, polegające na wprowadzeniu szczegółowych unormowań dotyczących religijnych uprawnień skazanych niebezpiecznych.

The Act of Torture and Inhumane Treatment as Human Rights Violations during COVID-19 in Nigeria

In December 2017, Nigeria signed into law the Anti-Torture Act 2017. This was done in acknowledgement of her obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its optional Protocol. Bearing in mind that there were existing laws which provided for torture, the Act was enacted to fill the gaps in the existing laws such as defining the term- torture and prescribing adequate punishment for the offenders. This article highlights some key provisions under the Act, laying particular emphasis on the duties of the State to protect its citizens from all forms of violations of their human rights. In this instance, we assert that the right to freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment is a non-derogable right and law enforcement officers are duty-bound to respect this right in whatever situation, even in the face of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Also portrayed in this article are some situational analysis of torture victims as well as court decisions on the matter. We conclude by restating some of the acts performed by law enforcement officers which constitute torture and proffer some recommendations.

Racial Oppression, Black Consciousness and the Quest for Freedom in Peter Abrahams’ Mine Boy (1946)

The white South African capitalist system deprived the rural population of their lands. This deprivation of their cultivating lands engendered the displacement of the proletariat class to the city to find a better life. In 1946, Peter Abrahams released Mine Boy to denounce the exploitation and oppression of the blacks by white people. This article aims at castigating the inhuman treatment reserved for Xuma, a village rural boy who goes to Johannesburg to improve his economic situation in the mine. Xuma’s predicaments and Johannes and Chris’ deaths in the mines illustrate the brutal attitudes of the white bosses towards their mineworkers. The rising consciousness of the mineworkers leads them to a perpetual liberation struggle that finally ends in their historical freedom.