"No one shall be subjected to torture or degrading treatment or punishment."135 Particularly important is one clause in the court’s ruling. After describing detention and living conditions in Greece in detail, the court determined: Based on these conclusions and on the obligations incumbent on the States under Article 3 of the Convention in terms of expulsion, the Court considers that by transferring the applicant to Greece the Belgian authorities knowingly exposed him to conditions of detention and living conditions that amounted to degrading treatment. That being so, there has been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention.136 The court’s jurisprudence has reiterated that the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment is uniquely uncompromising. 137 In June 2010 in Gäfgen v. Germany , the court articulated this absolute prohibition: Article 3 of the Convention enshrines one of the most fundamental values of democratic societies. Unlike most of the substantive clauses of the Convention, Article 3 makes no provision for exceptions and no derogation from it is permissible … even in the event of a public emergency threatening the life of the nation.138 Although Frontex rejects any responsibility for what happens to migrants in detention in Greece because it has no mandate over that detention, Human Rights Watch maintains that such a mandate is not the basis on which liability is incurred. Not having the mandate to intervene in abusive detention centers does not absolve Frontex from responsibility and liability where it co-operates in activities that contribute to exposing detainees to the abuses that occur in them. 135 Human Rights Watch recognizes that Frontex is not bound by the ECHR, since the EU has not yet acceded to the Convention. But the M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece ruling of the ECtHR is nevertheless instructive and touches on the prohibition to subject people to inhuman and degrading treatment that appears not only in the ECHR, but in the Charter as well, to which Frontex is bound. 136 ECtHR, M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece, paras. 367-368. 137 See ECtHR Selmouni v. France, no. 25803/94, ECHR 1999-V http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,ECHR,,MAR,456d621e2,3ae6b70210,0.html (accessed April 4, 2011). The Court confirmed that even in the most difficult circumstances, such as the fight against terrorism and organized crime, the Convention prohibits in absolute terms inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, irrespective of the conduct of the person concerned (see also ECHR Chahal v. the United Kingdom, 15 November 1996, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-V, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,ECHR,,IND,,3ae6b69920,0.html, (accessed April 4, 2011)). 138 ECtHR, Gäfgen v. Germany, no. 22978/05, June 1, 2010, http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2010/759.html, (accessed April 4, 2011). 47 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2011