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).