The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland with a population in 2015 estimated to be approximately 88,000.
Namely the: As a Crown Dependency, The United Kingdom (UK) is responsible for the international relations for the Isle of Man.
The Isle of Man is not subject to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process as it is not a member state of the United Nations.
The Isle of Man has agreed to some UPR recommendations such as ratifying the Optional Protocol on the Convention against Torture in 2014.
[8] Under pressure from the UK government, and to meet ECHR requirements, the death penalty was abolished in 1993 on the Isle of Man; however the last execution had not taken place since 1872.
[15] There has been concern that the current human rights structures on the Isle of Man do not sufficiently represent the deaf population as the island does not have appropriately qualified persons to assist deaf individuals in arrests and trials which has resulted in questions about the legitimacy of legal outcomes.
Since the early 1990s, the Isle of Man has relaxed its position with regards to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.
Sections 9(1) and 9(4) respectively criminalise ‘buggery’ and ‘gross indecency’ between men if one party is under the age of sixteen or if the acts are committed “elsewhere than in private.”[25][26] Section 10(1) provides buggery and gross indecency will not be considered to be in private if “more than two persons are present” or if the act is done in “any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access to, whether on payment or otherwise.”[27] In 2013 a local Independent Methodist minister refused to rent a house to two women because they were in a same sex relationship, causing international outrage.
It was principally the form of punishment for boys under 15 convicted of stealing, however was altered in 1960 so that birching could be used on males up to 21 years of age.
By a majority of six votes to one, the Court held Tyrer's birching to constitute degrading treatment contrary to the Article 3 of the ECHR.
This was labelled a landmark decision by Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
However, the Isle of Man has been reluctant to do so, declining to implement UPR recommendations to the UK in both 2008 and 2013 for it to ban corporal punishment on children in its overseas territories.
[34] The Isle of Man stated that it does not see the need for reform as it believes the current law is working well and that parents should be allowed to discipline children.