THE RIGHT ON HUMAN DIGNITY TROUGHT THE PRISM OF TRIAL WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME (original) (raw)
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Human Dignity - A Heuristic Discipline Of Human Rights
2013
Dignity is an appeal to human nature. Transposed in the juridical field, human dignity highlights the necessity to establish (in favour of the individual) a juridical treatment compatible with human nature. Our disquisition is destined to analyse the contributions brought by the concept of human dignity in the process of the juridical avowal of human rights and to study, at the same time, the category of relations between two frameworks of analysis: human rights and human dignity. We propose the thesis of conceptual correspondence human-rights-human dignity, in the attempt to demonstrate two fusing frameworks of analysis, that can almost mutually define one another. The intricacy, the hardship of legal reconnaissance, the variety of significance, give the precise nature of human dignity and human rights, pleading in favour of this conjugate study. The defining of man – as an analytical category – is seated within human dignity, pointing out, as natural consequences of this seating, ...
Oxímora. Revista Internacional de Ética y Política, 2016
This paper will evaluate the convenience of using the legal concept of human dignity in the human rights discourse and its effectiveness to address injustice in a twenty-first century democratic society. This article will argue that the difficulty of defining human dignity does not diminish its merits and allows it to be both solid and adaptable to new challenges. Then, this paper will argue that human dignity is a powerful concept due to its capacity to bring change and modernise society and will conclude that there is a strong relationship between time, human dignity, human rights and democracy.
Human Dignity and Judicial Interpretation of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights was pivotal in popularizing the use of ' dignity ' or ' human dignity ' in human rights discourse. This article argues that the use of ' dignity ' , beyond a basic minimum core, does not provide a universalistic, principled basis for judicial decision-making in the human rights context, in the sense that there is little common understanding of what dignity requires substantively within or across jurisdictions. The meaning of dignity is therefore context-specifi c, varying signifi cantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and (often) over time within particular jurisdictions. Indeed, instead of providing a basis for principled decision-making, dignity seems open to signifi cant judicial manipulation, increasing rather than decreasing judicial discretion. That is one of its signifi cant attractions to both judges and litigators alike. Dignity provides a convenient language for the adoption of substantive interpretations of human rights guarantees which appear to be intentionally, not just coincidentally, highly contingent on local circumstances. Despite that, however, I argue that the concept of ' human dignity ' plays an important role in the development of human rights adjudication, not in providing an agreed content to human rights but in contributing to particular methods of human rights interpretation and adjudication.
The Legal Significance of Human Dignity
In this thesis, I traced the history of human dignity through the history of ideas from its inception in Stoic anthropology, religion and the Enlightenment, to dignity's legalization in Modernity. In discussing the history of dignity in the legal systems of Germany, South Africa and the US, I worked on the premise that dignity comprises of three universal elements, as identified by prominent academics. These elements are the equal inherent dignity paradigm, the claim that everybody's dignity must be protected and respected and the injunction that states must progressively realize dignity by way of socio-economic rights, within their respective means. These elements are part and parcel of the constitutional architecture of dignity, whether applied as a value or a right, or both, in constitutional systems that protect dignity. I theorized that there is a correlation between the three elements and the conceptualization of dignity by Kant, the renowned Enlightenment philosopher, who claimed that inherent dignity is priceless, a sort of an uber right that operates as a categorical imperative - in constitutional terms not subject to limitation. Consequently; everybody has a reciprocal duty to protect and respect each other's dignity. In applying Kant's claim of dignity as manifested in the three elements to the adjudication of constitutional dignity in the aforementioned legal systems, I based my interpretation on the distinction of constitutional norms as rules and principles as advocated by Dworkin and mainly Alexy. I came to the conclusion that the German application truly corresponds with Kant's categorical imperative as Alexy's distinction of rules and principles is correctly applied. South African adjudication of dignity is underdeveloped in the perspective of Alexy's distinction in instances where there is a conflict between adjudication of dignity as a value and dignity as a right, when the principle of proportionality is applied to competing rights. To correct this, I proposed a model of interpretation of the dignity-clause in the Constitution along the lines of Alexy's theory of constitutional rights, to ensure legal consistency and to determine the legal significance of human dignity. The US system differs from that of Germany and South Africa, as dignity is solely employed as a value to strengthen rights claims and the three elements of dignity are not applied as a first-order rule.
This paper challenges the claim that human dignity is not the foundation of human rights, but is rather a special kind of human right itself. The claim recognizes that human persons have a vulnerable and psychologically constructed identity called the Self which is continuously developed throughout their lifetime. Such a claim relies on moral Contractualism as the basis for human rights and the Self is said to be an integral part of the human person such that she both demands that it remain free from serious insult while agreeing to refrain from insulting any other person’s Self. The argument for human dignity as a right will be critiqued for too quickly dismissing alternative accounts of dignity which place it as the foundation, rather than a result of human rights. Dignity is, by definition, that which makes one worthy rather than the result of being worthy. Therefore, dignity is not the kind of thing which can be the result of human rights. Dignity is best understood as the foundation of human rights as articulated by the theory of “attribution-dignity” which argues that people have dignity based on their status as human beings. Human beings possess a self, and dignity is constituted by the possession of the Self by humans, rather than their demand that the Self which they possess be protected.
Dignity and International Human Rights Law
2021
The Punta del Este Declaration, and this book dedicated to elaborating upon it, is devoted to exploring the ways that human dignity for everyone everywhere can be a useful tool in helping to address the challenges and strains facing human rights in the world today. In 2018, an initiative was instigated to revitalize the human rights project by way of engaging the notion of human dignity. This resulted in the Punta Del Este Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere (Punta Del Este Declaration), a declaration co-authored by over 30 human rights experts from all over the world. The Punta Del Este Declaration simplifies and brings coherence to the concept of human dignity in 10 brief statements that capture the many dimensions and aspects of human dignity and the practical ways that human dignity is useful in the promotion of human rights. This book provides an overview of how the notion of human dignity has been used to strengthen human rights. It discusses how human dignity plays many different roles in human rights discourse and has the force to revitalize the human rights project; it is the foundational principle upon which the human rights project is built. But it is also the telos, or end goal, of human rights. At the same time, it is an important evaluative mechanism for assessing how well a country is doing in the implementation of human rights. The book will be a valuable resource for all those working in the areas of International Human Rights Law, Legal Philosophy, and Law and Religion.
Comments on the Approach to Human Dignity in Case Law
The Lawyer Quarterly, 2018
The article ‘Comments on the approach to human dignity in case law’ deals with some approaches to the interpretation of human dignity by international and constitutional courts including Czech Constitutional Court. It is the wide-ranging and extensive use of human dignity that certainly is a success of the post-war concept of human dignity as a basis for the protection of rights. On the other hand, the universal applicability of human dignity and it being ambivalently used is criticised for leading to vagueness and relativisation of the basic concept of dignity. However, given that the post-war conception is based on human dignity being the grounds for the human rights granted to all people, the universality of human dignity and its extensive use are the typical attributes thereof. The article describes fields of judicial interpretation of human dignity expressing diverse worlds of constitutional values.
International Review, 2017
The idea of protecting the dignity of human beings as individuals and members of the human species, the recognition of human rights is one of the most important achievements of modern social systems. It is result of deep aspirations of humanization of moral and physical integrity of a person. Inherent dignity rests on the peculiarities of human nature and is its existential value. Legal protection of the dignity is continuously improving its mechanisms and instruments in an international environment, with the aim of respecting the individuality of individuals. The Human Rights Committee (HRC) force the provisions of the International Convent of Civil and Political Rights for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and its decisions form a separate human rights protection system. The research particularly included the researching the HRC recommendations that invoke the protection of human dignity in their statements of reasons when establishing a violation of a certain human right and by analysing their contents I found the areas guaranteed by the ICCPRwhich are most prone to violation of human dignity. Analysing the HRC case law, one becomes aware of the evolving humanisation of access to protection of human dignity. Harmonization of legal systems of the state parties to the Convention, creates strong support of human rights and improving the sociological structure of modern social systems.
Human Dignity and Human Rights
This chapter aims, first, to briefly present how the notion of human dignity has been conceptualized over centuries of philosophical thought; second, to stress the foundational role it currently plays in international human rights law; third, to emphasize its even more crucial role in the international policy documents relating to bioethics; fourth, to present the reasons for the recourse to human rights in the formulation of global bioethical standards; and finally to briefly address the challenge to the universality of human dignity and human rights posed by cultural diversity.