Equality and Human Rights Commission

Article 15 says:

• No one must be tortured or subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
• Disabled people must never be subject to medical experiments they have not freely agreed to be part of.

What does this mean?

This right is about protecting human dignity.

Inhuman treatment means treatment which causes severe mental or physical harm.
Degrading treatment means treatment that is grossly humiliating and undignified.

There are many situations where inhuman or degrading treatment can occur and disabled people often find themselves in situations of vulnerability, such as living in institutions or being reliant upon others for intimate personal care, which place them at greater risk.

In Britain, there are lots of systems in place to protect disabled people against degrading or inhuman treatment. Public bodies have a duty to make sure you are not treated in an inhuman or degrading way by private care providers or indeed members of your own family. If public bodies find out about such treatment, or if they should have been aware, they have a duty to act. In relation to health and social care, there are regulators in each country in Britain which check whether health and social care providers are treating service users in a dignified way. In England this is the Care Quality Commission, in Wales the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales, and in Scotland the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care. Other inspectorates, for example Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, also have a role.