DIGNITY IS …
… the inherent and equal worth of every person every where
INHERENT
within every person
Every member of the human family is born with dignity,
as if we are given a coin at birth that can never be lost or forfeited.
EQUAL
in equal measure
Every person is born equal in dignity and rights. No one
has more dignity than anyone else, no one can limit or restrict another person’s dignity.
UNIVERSAL
everyone everywhere
Every person on earth is entitled to have their dignity
respected and protected. With dignity under law, everyone is important.
WORTH
every life has value.
Every person counts. No human life is dispensable.
Every person should have agency over their own life and their own identity.
Human Dignity, Human Rights
Dignity rights are the rights that flow from the recognition of human dignity.
They include rights to freedom of speech and conscience, rights to housing and health and education, and rights to a stable climate and a healthy environment.
Human rights are important because they protect the ability of every person everywhere to live with dignity.
Dignity Matters to Everyone
Dignity matters to people
Dignity law puts people first. It focuses attention on how law can promote human flourishing. We are working in Haiti to help restore the environmental dignity of those who live in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the world.
Dignity matters to lawyers
We help lawyers in all practice areas protect the dignity of clients and other stakeholders. Lawyers are increasingly bringing dignity claims to court — and winning!
In 2019, the American Bar Association affirmed that human dignity is foundational to a just rule of law. To implement this resolution, the ABA Center for Human Rights has established a Dignity Rights Initiative to bring dignity awareness to lawyers in all practice areas in the United States and abroad.
“The Dignity Rights Practicum is doing vital work to advance deeper understanding and fuller realization of universal human rights. The American Bar Association Center for Human Rights is proud to partner closely with the Practicum — faculty and students!”
Dignity matters to courts
Courts around the world are increasingly receptive to efforts to vindicate dignity rights. With the help of our new Dignity RIghts Case Library, our free and fully searchable containing descriptions and links to hundreds of dignity cases from around the world, judges can quickly find cases on pertinent topics. We also maintain a database of global constitutions that protect human dignity. These include cases and constitutional provisions from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Kenya, India, Israel, Pakistan, Peru, Nepal, South Africa, the United States, and elsewhere.
I want to talk about dignity because that’s very close to my heart. [It’s the only one of the fundamental rights which is not subject to law.] Human dignity encapsulates the notion that every person has inherent equal worth. This simple but profound concept has three elements. First, every member of the human family has value; no one can be dismissed, ignored, mistreated, or abused as if their humanity means nothing. Second, each person’s worth is equal to every other person’s. No one’s life is more important than any other person’s. Third, human dignity inheres in the human person and cannot be taken away.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Pakistan Supreme Court (2022)
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”