Human rights and civil liberties - Choose one of the rights listed Essay

Human rights and civil liberties - Choose one of the rights listed below. Explain how the European Convention on Human Rights seeks to uphold that right, highli - Essay Example Under the Treaty, inhuman and degrading punishment would violate the rights of an individual, or even a child, to freedom from arbitrary treatment - such as excessive punishment or torture under imprisonment. There have been allegations of inhuman and degrading treatment in prisons and the provisions of the Geneva Convention have been found inadequate in this regard. However, Article 3 of the European Convention addresses all such violations of the right to freedom from discriminatory treatment. Article 3 has been primarily applied in respect to international victims of torture and cruel, arbitrary treatment while imprisoned. However corporal punishment of children is also emerging as an area where the provisions of Article 3 would apply. Such punishment would be equivalent to mental and physical torture which is deemed to be unacceptable under the Convention. Yet traditional belief has held that corporal punishment is an essential part of discipline and this conflict between punishm ent and freedom from torture has generated controversy within the European Union. In view of the fact that â€Å"we live in a society in which violence is spreading like a plague†4 and incidents of terrorist violence and destruction are soaring, the provisions of Article 3 of the Convention help to protect individuals from violence. When the violence or torture is perpetrated on children through corporal punishment, there is a special cause of action that arises for the exercise of Article 3, since children are in a weaker position as compared to adults. Corporal punishment can sometimes be excessive and thereby constitute degrading treatment that harms the child physically, emotionally and mentally. Legal reforms have been undertaken in several countries to declare corporal punishment of children unlawful - a violation of the protection against torture and inhuman treatment guaranteed under Article