Abstract
The “right to hope” (RtH) was first invoked by Judge Power-Forde in Vinter and Others v. UK (2013), in the context of the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling that “irreducible” life sentences contravene Article 3 ECHR’s prohibition on “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” This dissertation re-examines the RtH’s normative and legal grounding, as well as some of the critiques raised against it.
Chapter 1 provides an introductory account of this dissertation’s scope, interdisciplinary approach, and context. As part of this contextualisation, I suggest that “sites of hopelessness”—specifically, the Bastille of 18th century France and the concentration camps of 20th century Europe—catalysed the international human rights movement, and therefore provide an indirect historical backdrop to the RtH.
Against this backdrop, Chapter 2 examines whether depriving prisoners of their hope for release should be considered “inhuman or degrading treatment” under Article 3 ECHR. This is done, in part, by expanding upon Judge Power-Forde’s statement that prisoners’ experience of hope constitutes a “fundamental aspect of their humanity”, and providing a possible account of hope’s connection to human self-determination and agency. I argue that this framing of the RtH, despite its initial appeal, faces a substantial legal critique from Article 3’s thresholds for “inhuman or degrading treatment.”
In Chapter 3, I proceed to consider the RtH’s relation to Article 3’s prohibition on “inhuman or degrading” punishment. After first arguing that hope’s subjectivity represents particular difficulties for advocating a RtH from “gross” disproportionality under Article 3, this chapter maintains—again, following Judge Power-Forde’s lead—that the RtH is best understood as stemming from human beings’ inherent “capacity to change” and the possibility of prisoners’ “atonement.” In doing this, critiques concerning society’s interest in retributive punishment are addressed.
Lastly, I conclude by reflecting on why a right specifically to hope remains valuable.