Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an understanding of the reach, and limits, of states' protection of individuals from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by drawing attention to the 'other forms of ill-treatment'. It addresses the body of European Convention jurisprudence under Article 3, which states that 'no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'. Degrading treatment is generally seen to be at the lower end of a hierarchy of ill-treatment. The book includes an overview of the body of degrading treatment case-law. It interprets the benchmarks of degradation that are routinely restated in European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) case-law. The book then contextualises the newly developed interpretation of the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment through an example chosen to test its fringes of application.