Human rights and human dignity are inseparably connected. This is clearly demonstrated by comparing a short excerpt of a dictionary definition on the difficult term of "human dignity" with the dictionary definition of the term "human rights" in Basic course 1.

"(...) Human dignity is the innermost and social right to respect with regard to values and dignity, and to which each and every person is entitled purely because they are human. Every person is born with human dignity and it cannot be lost. The unborn and the dead are also entitled to it. Respect of human dignity means the state must cease to carry out all acts that encroach upon human dignity. Therefore, the state must constantly respect people as persons, it may not regard people as being available for use for acts of the state, and may not misuse people as an ends to a means. Protection of human dignity means that the state must do everything in its power to counter violations of human dignity - including those through third parties (...)."

[Taken and translated from: Hermann Avenarius, Kleines Rechtswörterbuch, Bonn 1991]

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We attempt to answer just what this means specifically for each individual within the scope of this advanced subject on human dignity. To this end, we will be taking a look at some examples of how the term human dignity is understood in different societies (materials). The following extract from a book entitled "Die Tortur" by Jean Amery serves well as an introduction into the problematic nature of this subject:

"Not a great deal is expressed when some unaffected and untouched person reaches the ethically lofty conclusion that a prisoner loses his human dignity with the first blow. I have to be honest and admit that I don't know what it is: human dignity. Some believe they have lost it on finding themselves in a situation in which it becomes impossible to take a daily bath. Others believe they have forfeited it on having to speak a language other than their native tongue when dealing with public authorities. In these cases, human dignity is associated with a specific physical comfort, or with the freedom of expression, or in other cases perhaps with the freedom to take a same-sex partner. So I don't know if human dignity is lost by a prisoner who is subjected to a beating from the police. But I am certain that the prisoner loses something with the first blow, perhaps we might want provisionally to call this trust in the world."

[taken and translated from: Jean Amery, Die Tortur; zitiert nach: Thema im Unterricht 11/1997, BpB]

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Looking at it from one angle, the world has become a global village. From another angle, however, the world has been split into a rich north and a poor south. What impact will this situation, described in the short passage that follows, have on the worldwide implementation of human rights?

"Gossip about the 'one world' in which we live turns out to be nothing other than fancy talk. During the week, the planet is divided by globalization: East Asia is booming, the industrial nations of the west are making some progress - but more than a quarter of all the world's people are worse off than ten, twenty, even thirty years ago. Within a generation, the distance between north and south has doubled, so it's no wonder that 358 dollar multimillionaires now possess more money than the world's poorest 2.3 billion citizens earn in a year. The global village is creating its own apartheid. Rather than a conflict between nations, the future is more likely to bring social carnage and bloody rebellion of the helots than some sort of "star wars".

[Christian Wernicke, in: Die ZEIT dated 26.07.1996]

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Set against this background, isn't the often expressed argument understandable that the poor countries should first concentrate on the basic needs of their populations before thinking closely about "luxury items" such as human dignity and human rights? Or in more drastic terms: What use is freedom of speech to an illiterate person?

"The Chinese vice-foreign minister described the denouncing of human rights violations in other states as 'interfering in internal affairs' and as 'encroachment on sovereignty'. Apparently, this could lead to political instability and social unrest. The argument which sees human rights as a vital precondition for development is, according to Lin, unfounded. He sees social and political progress, along with catering for the basic needs of the people as having first priority in third-world countries. China, however, respects the UN Charta and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

[Süddeutsche Zeitung dated 17.06.1993]

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Subjects:  Human Rights  I  Democracy  I  Parties  I  Examples  I  Europe  I  Globalisation  I  United Nations  I  Sustainability

Methods:    Teaching Politics    II    Peace Education    II    Methods