International Legal Foundations for the Protection of the Rights of Convicted Persons: Principles, Standards and Mechanisms

Abstract

This article offers a comprehensive analysis of the international legal foundations for the protection of the rights of convicted persons. The study examines the fundamental principles of international law applicable to the execution of sentences — humanism, non-discrimination and normalisation — and identifies the dual nature of international penitentiary standards, divided into legally binding "hard law" norms and recommendatory "soft law" instruments. Particular attention is given to the role of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) and the European Prison Rules as the principal regulators of the legal status of convicted persons. The two-tier architecture of supervisory mechanisms is examined systematically: the universal tier is represented by UN treaty bodies, while the regional tier is embodied in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). The author concludes that the system of international guarantees forms a supranational layer of protection for the legal status of convicted persons, which is of particular importance in the implementation of transnational penitentiary procedures