Special Report to the Storting
Document 4:3 (2018–2019)
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Human rights standards
3.1 What are human rights standards?
Norway has ratified and has commitments under a
number of international human rights conventions.
Many of these rights have been incorporated in Norway’s
Constitution, the Human Rights Act and other legislation.
Furthermore, the Council of Europe and the UN have
adopted human rights standards that limit the use of solitary confinement and similar measures. The UN Special
Rapporteur on Torture has also issued relevant recommendations.24 Based on many years of visiting prisons
in the Council of Europe’s member states, the CPT
has developed standards for treatment of prisoners.25
The European Prison Rules, setting out standards for
treatment of prisoners in Europe, are also important.26
These standards are not legally binding per se, but have
been developed through collaboration across states on
the basis of international case law. In several instances,
the European Court of Human Rights has supported
human rights standards relating to solitary confinement
and used them as a source of law.27 The rules are seen
as internationally accepted minimum standards for the
treatment of prisoners, and they are important in order
to ensure that prisoners are not treated in contravention
of the prohibition against torture.
3.2 The prohibition against torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment
The right to freedom from torture and inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment is among the most
essential human rights.
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The prohibition against use of torture is laid down
in Article 93 second paragraph of the Norwegian
Constitution and in a number of conventions to which
Norway has acceded. The prohibition is absolute and
allows for no exceptions.28
Several UN conventions on human rights contain a
prohibition against torture and inhuman treatment,
including the UN International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (1966).29 The UN Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (the ‘UN Convention against Torture’),
ratified by Norway in 1986, was adopted because the
world saw such infringements as particularly harmful and
there was a wish to strengthen the effort to prevent such
infringements and punish the perpetrators.
In accordance with Article 1 of the UN Convention
against Torture, ‘torture’ is defined as any act by a
public official (or other person acting in an official
capacity) by which severe pain or suffering, whether
physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person
for such purposes as obtaining information or a
confession, punishment, or intimidating or coercing, or
for any reason based on discrimination of any kind.30
The prohibition applies to both acts and omissions.
The prohibition against other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment is likewise
absolute and covers grave violations of personal
integrity, often in situations where state authorities have
direct control of individuals, such as in a prison. 31 The
prohibition against inhuman treatment may well have
been violated, even if the abuse does not take place to
achieve a prohibited purpose (e.g. to punish or threaten)
and even if it is not carried out with intent.32
See in particular the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture’s report to the UN General Assembly 2011, A/66/268.
Council of Europe: Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), 21st General Report, 10 November 2011, CPT/Inf (2011) 28.
Recommendation Rec (2006)2 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the European Prison Rules, adopted by the Committee of
Ministers on 11 January 2006 (in the following referred to as the European Prison Rules).
See inter alia ECtHR 20 October 2016 Muršić v. Croatia paragraph 133, and the dissenting opinion of Judge De Gaetano.
See the UN Convention against Torture Article 2(2) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 15(2).
The UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 7. See also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 37(a) and
the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article 15.
Nowak, M & McArthur, E (2008). The United Nations Convention Against Torture – A Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The UN Convention against Torture Article 16.
The requirement that the infringement must be ’intentionally inflicted’ applies to the prohibition on torture only; see the UN Convention
against Torture Article 1. The prohibition against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment also covers negligence and failure to act on several
administrative and government levels.
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