The second heading: Reasons of principle
Torture treats the victim as a means to an end and not an end in themselves
[First bullet] ● it treats the victim as a 'thing', not as a person with all the value that we associate with persons
[I omit the other bullets because I want to understand this sentence only from itself, alone]
What does 'thing' mean? Is this use right?
I interpreted this sentence differently as follows but please correct me. If a person with depraved, heinous values is tortured, then torture is treating the values of this victim, and thus this victim him/herself? In other words, torture is treating this person, with his negative values, which can be associated with persons? So how does 'not as a .... associate with persons' make sense?