Vulnerable Adults and Human Rights

This chapter examines the duties of the state in protecting vulnerable adults in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and through the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA). It also discusses the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (The Istanbul Convention). Essentially, there is a duty on the state to put in place laws which generally speaking ensure that citizens’ rights are protected. This means there must be an effective criminal law to deter violent crimes and an effective mechanism for law enforcement. The ECHR recognizes...

This chapter examines the duties of the state in protecting vulnerable adults in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and through the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA). It also discusses the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (The Istanbul Convention). Essentially, there is a duty on the state to put in place laws which generally speaking ensure that citizens’ rights are protected. This means there must be an effective criminal law to deter violent crimes and an effective mechanism for law enforcement. The ECHR recognizes this protection against violence which mainly depends on three key issues: proof of an interference in the rights of the victim, proof that the state agency had the necessary knowledge of the interference, and proof that the state had failed to act as it should.