Charity or Justice? How A Teleological Interpretation of the ECHR Supports Judicial Intervention in Article 3 Destitution Cases
Author | Emma Young |
Position | Final Year LLB (ling. franc.) Candidate at Trinity College Dublin |
Pages | 101-111 |
(2021) 20 COLR 101
101
CHARITYORJUSTICE?HOW A TELEOLOGICALINTERPRETATIONOFTHE
ECHRSUPPORTSJUDICIALINTERVENTIONINARTICLE 3 DESTITUTION
CASES
EmmaYoung*
A INTRODUCTION
‘[O]vercoming poverty isnot a gesture of charity.Itisanact of justice.Itisthe protection
of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decentlife.’1
- NelsonMandela
TheEuropeanConvention on Human Rights (ECHR) (Convention) wasdraftedin 1950 to
ensure the atrocitiesperpetratedby governments against theirown people would neveragain
be repeated.2In the following decades, Europe haschangeddrasticallytobecome the cradleof
the modern welfarestate,withmany countries embracingadvancedmodels of progressive
taxationandsocialwelfare.However, despite significant economic andsocial development,
extreme poverty stillremains a factorwithinMemberStatesof the Council of Europe.3Inits
caselaw, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)(theCourt) hassofarremained
reluctantto pronounce upon the human rights implications of such poverty.
Inthisarticle, the approach of the Court tocasesofdestitutionfallingwithin the remit of article
3 ECHRwillbe analysed. Ithasbeen establishedby the Court thatstate-sanctioned poverty
canincertaincircumstancesconstitute ‘inhuman or degrading treatment’ under article 3.4
However,ithasfailedto provide a coherent set of principles withwhichto guide judicial
applicationand the scope of stateresponsibilityremainslimited.Inthisarticle,itis contended
that the Court’sexistingapproachtodestitutionisunsatisfactoryandthatstateresponsibility
fordestitution should be extendedto those not fallingwithinan‘inherently vulnerable’ group.
* FinalYearLLB(ling.franc.)CandidateatTrinityCollegeDublin. I amgratefultoNiamhMartynandthe
EditorialBoardfortheirhelpfulcommentsinrespectofanearlierversionofthisarticle. I wouldalsoliketothank
myparentsandthelateAlexStreulifortheirunwaveringsupport - ardheisDégoraibh a anam.
1SimonJeffery, ‘MandelaCallsforActionon“Unnatural”Poverty’TheGuardian(London, 3 February2005)
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/03/hearafrica05.development> accessed03April2021.
2BernadetteRainey,ElizabethWicksandClareOvey,Jacobs,WhiteandOvey:TheEuropeanConventionon
HumanRights(7thedn,OxfordUniversityPress2017)3.
3‘ChildPovertyandSocialExclusioninEurope: A MatterofChildren’sRights’ (SavetheChildren, 2014)
<https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/sites/default/files/documents/child-poverty-and-social-exclusion-in-
europe-low-res.pdf> accessed18March2021.
4FrancinevanVolsem v BelgiumAppno14641/89(ECtHR, 9 May1990).
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