How does Dignity Ground Human Rights?

• Pages: 61-67
• Date: 18 November 2019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-821-620191006
• Published date: 18 November 2019
• Author: Jack Donnelly

Chapter 5

How Does Dignity Ground Human Rights?

Jack Donnelly

Introduction

Human dignity is the foundational concept of the global human rights regime. As

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) puts it,

recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and in alien-

able rights of all members of the human family is the foundation

of freedom, justice and peace in the world.1

In addition, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights pro-

claims, “these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.”2 The

Vienna Declaration of the 1993, World Human Rights Conference likewise afrms:

“all human rights derive from the dignity and worth inherent in the human

person.”3

But “the framers of the international instruments did not dene human dig-

nity … [n]or were they precise about the relationship between human rights and

human dignity” (Beyleveld & Brownsword, 2001; Henkin, 1992, Schachter, 1983).

This chapter argues that the absence of a denition of human dignity is largely

unproblematic given the nature of the linkage of human dignity and human

rights. This is explained in terms of John Rawls’ notion of an overlapping con-

sensus on a political conception of justice.

1First perambulatory paragraph. See also Articles 22 and 23.

2Second perambulatory paragraph. See also rst perambulatory paragraph; Interna-

tional Covenant on Economic and Social Rights, Article 13 and International Covenant

on Civil and Political Rights, Article 10).

3Second perambulatory paragraph. See also paragraphs I.11.3, 18.2, 20, and 25. For

an overview of other international and regional legal instruments, see McCrudden

(2008).

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Dignity and Human Rights, 61–67

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doi:10.1108/978-1-78973-821-620191006