Hey everyone,
Dignity, is a right proclaimed by each of the declarations of rights given in this week's readings, and often one of the primary rights. This is an even more nuanced term than speech or privacy. So, I would like to know what do you think having the right to dignity means, and why would all these governments want to recognize it so prominently?
Interesting question!
ReplyDeleteI believe dignity lies very closely to equality and relates to the Golden Rule of “treat people how you would like to be treated.” Dignity is used around words such as “honour” (Islamic), “equal and inalienable” (U.N.), “democratic” (South African), and “freedom” (South African).
The Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the South African Bill of Rights all use the term dignity to describe a quality that is universal and non-revocable. The Islamic version claims dignity to be bestowed from God and the U.N.’s and the South African both use the term “inherent dignity.”
All of these Declarations of Rights highlighting the right to dignity is a big step to working towards not only respect of individuals in one’s own community, but a universal goal of equality and respect of everyone.
I think this is one of the only times cultural relativism is truly useful in the development of basic human rights. Other rights like life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness are fairly universal in their concepts, and cultures that deny their people these rights should and are often condemned. But when you examine dignity across different cultures a large set of differences will surely be encountered. Of course we all have a loose idea of what dignity means, but the specifics are usually something that is closely related or derived from religious or ethnic background and should be understood as such.
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