2.1.3 Degrading treatment The Commission and Court have expanded on these distinguishing characteristics in their subsequent decisions. In East African Asians v UK,285 the Commission stated that “the general purpose of this provision is to prevent interferences with the dignity of man of a particularly serious nature. It follows that an action, which lowers a person in rank, position, reputation or character can only be regarded as ‘degrading treatment’ in the sense of Article 3, where it reaches a certain level of severity.” Accordingly, for an act to constitute degrading treatment, it must in some way interfere with a person’s dignity. The Court also took the opportunity to comment on the ‘threshold of severity’ approach to degrading treatment in Tyrer v UK. That case involved the infliction of a judicial sentence of birching on a fifteen-year old boy who had been convicted of unlawful assault. After deciding that the treatment was not sufficiently severe to constitute torture or inhuman treatment, the Court considered whether it could amount to degrading treatment, noting that “What is relevant for the purposes of Article 3 is that he should be humiliated not simply by his conviction but by the execution of the punishment which is imposed upon him… In order for punishment to be ‘degrading’ and in breach of Article 3, the humiliation or debasement involved must attain a particular level.”286 The Court further stated that the assessment of the level of humiliation or debasement involved is “in the nature of things relative: it depends on all the circumstances of the case and in particular, on the nature and context of the punishment itself and the manner and method of its execution.”287 constitute degrading treatment. See also Tyrer v UK (1978), op. cit., §29. The Greek Case (1969), op. cit. 284 Ireland v UK, (1978), op. cit., §162. 285 East African Asians v UK, no. 4403/70, Commission Report of 14 December 1973, published in full following Resolution of 21 March 1994. 286 Tyrer v UK (1978), op. cit., §§32, 35. 287 Ibid. §§30–31. 2 The European Regional System Unlike inhuman treatment, degrading treatment has been the subject of substantial definitional consideration, possibly because it constitutes the baseline for a violation of Article 3. Once again, The Greek Case provides the springboard for subsequent refinements of the definitions, with its finding that for an act to be considered ‘degrading’, it must include some form of “gross humiliation.”283 Furthermore, in Ireland v UK, the Court determined that, to come within the scope of Article 3, an act of ill-treatment must attain a “minimum level of severity.”284 283 61