EXTRATERRITORIAL EFFECT OF ARTICLE 3 OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS

Abstract

Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms protects individuals primarily from torture, and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment2 on the territory of a High Contracting Party to the Convention. However, it is possible to apply this article to situations where the aforementioned abuses have not yet occurred, but there is a real danger that they will occur. In that case, it will only happen if the applicant is physically transferred to the territory of another country. The danger of the acts prohibited by Article 3 of the Convention threatens in the territory of that other country that receives the applicant, and not in the country from which the applicant is transferred. Then we are talking about the extraterritorial effect of Article 3 of the Convention. The applicant is obliged to prove that there is a real danger that he will be abused, if he is transferred to the territory of another country. Whether certain acts constitute abuse in the sense of Article 3 of the Convention is assessed exclusively according to the standards of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. This type of effect of Article 3 has in the past practice of the Court regularly referred to situations of extradition, expulsion and asylum.