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52 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment
of Prisoners (known as “the Mandela Rules”) affirms that all
prisoners have the right to be treated with “the respect due to
their inherent dignity and value as human beings” and that, as
such, they should not be subjected to torture or other forms of
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 123 This
right must be guaranteed to all, without discrimination,
including on the grounds of sex. 124
Prison conditions should not be harsh or punitive. The Mandela
Rules recognize that: “Imprisonment and other measures that
result in cutting off persons from the outside world are afflictive
by the very fact of taking from these persons the right of selfdetermination
by depriving them of their liberty. Therefore the
prison system shall not, except as incidental to justifiable
separation or the maintenance of discipline, aggravate the
suffering inherent in such a situation.” 125
As recognized by the European Court of Human Rights in
Selmouni v France, the distinction between torture and other
forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is subject to
change over time. The Court took the view that “the
increasingly high standard being required in the area of the
protection of human rights and fundamental liberties
correspondingly and inevitably requires greater firmness in
assessing breaches of the fundamental values of democratic
societies”. 126
123
United Nations Standards Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners (the Mandela Rules), as presented to the Economic and
Social Council by the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice, UN Doc E/CN.15/2015/L.6/Rev.1 (2015), Rule 1. See also the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Articles 7
and 10, and the Convention against Torture and Other Forms or Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CAT), Article 1.
124
Mandela Rules, ibid, Rule 2; ICCPR, Articles 2(1) and 3; CEDAW
Convention, Article 1.
125
Mandela Rules, above note 123, Rule 5.
126
Selmouni v France, European Court of Human Rights, Application
25803/94, 28 July 1999, paragraph 101.