Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits torture, and "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". An absolute right Article 3 is an absolute right. The right is unqualified and cannot be balanced against the rights and needs of other people or the greater public interest. Article 15(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights makes no provision for derogation from Article 3, even in times of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation. Positive obligation There is a positive obligation on states to take action to ensure that individuals are protected from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In the case of A v UK [1998] the law in the United Kingdom on lawful chastisement of children was held to breach Article 3. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) believed that the current law provided inadequate protection to children suffering from different types of degrading punishment. As a result, the UK amended the law relating to chastisement with the Children Act 2004. There is also a duty to carry out an investigation (Sevtap Vezenedaroglu v Turkey [2000]). Living instrument Article 3 is a living instrument. In Selmouni v France [1999] the EctHR articulated this to mean that it [Article 3] "must be interpreted in the light of present-day conditions". As a consequence of this, the standards of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment are open to change over time, meaning that certain acts that were not previously considered as torture may now be considered so. Torture Torture is the process of causing deliberate and serious physical or mental harm to another individual, usually exercised with the objective of gaining information or punishing. In Aksoy v Turkey (1997) the Court found Turkey guilty of torture in 1996 in the case of a detainee who was suspended by his arms while his hands were tied behind his back. The ECtHR decided that the techniques used were of "such a serious and cruel nature" that it could only have been described as torture. In the case of Ireland v United Kingdom [1978], the ECtHR was of the view that torture incorporates inhuman and degrading treatment but differs in the intensity and suffering inflicted. Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment can include serious physical violence or phycological abuse. The humiliation of an individual that arouses fear or demonstrates