Concepts of Dignity?
An Online Event Organised by Equal in Rights &
PWESCR
On 23 July
2007
Report
On 23rd July, 2007 16 participants
from across Africa, Europe and Asia discussed Concepts of Dignity .The e-discussion
was co-organized by Equal in Rights and PWESCR. This is a report from that
event.
Background
Equality
the mantra of women’s movement. However, women’s realities in South Asia
made us think more about principles of dignity. What is human dignity? It is
one of the key principles of human rights. How can we make dignity ‘real’—in
terms of indicators and benchmarks? What is the state role to promote, protect
human dignity? And more importantly, from women’s perspective, can there be
equality without dignity? Is equality just ‘fluff’ without dignity? The floor
is sinking. People are surviving for less and less everyday. In such severe
situations what do we understand by human life/human dignity? Can we expand the
principles of dignity to provide the much needed ‘floor’ that would prevent
human life from sinking below a certain standard?
As a human
rights organization based in the Global South, working on women’s economic,
social and cultural rights, PWESCR is forced to look at dignity. In social
justice work, in general, there is an assumption that human dignity is given.
The assumption is also that we all understand it. As feminist, we talk about
equality and non-discrimination also premised on the fact that there is a
floor—a dignified human life which we as woman have a right to. The human
rights discourse is premised also on the fact that there is a floor—a dignified
human life that has rights. And work around core obligations under each right
is based on there being a floor—core minimum standards. But, the floor is
sinking and disintegrating. People are surviving for less and less everyday.
What is the relevance of human rights in such situations?
Process
For this e-discussion, PWESCR’s
discussion paper on ‘Thoughts on Dignity’
was circulated as the starting point. Participants sent their comments/thoughts
on dignity before the chat. PWESCR summarised the comments with posing
questions to lead the group into a discussion. This report captures the
e-discussion and the comments that were received. We appreciate Megan Brown,
Project Officer, Equal in Rights for coordinating and organising all logistics
to make the event a success. The conversation was insightful and touched on
several issues. We are grateful to the commitment that each and every
participant brought to this event. We may not have answers, however we are
buzzing with ideas and thoughts on this topic.
The E-discussion:
Questions
based on comments sent by participants for the chat were:
- Dignity
is self worth and is also acceptance within a family and community.
- Dignity
as a moral value vs dignity as a right.
- Human
dignity and human rights are linked. Dignity is realized only when human
rights are realized. Dignity is vital to realization of all human rights.
- Conversation
on dignity is crucial to human rights work especially ESC rights.
- Poverty
is the greatest form of indignity.
- Concept
of dignity can be a holistic approach to link theory and practice.
- Can
indicators/benchmarks make dignity real? (Hence the whole conversation on
measurement)
Conceptualizing
Dignity
The chat began
with an attempt to first conceptualize dignity. We all understand what dignity
is, yet it is very difficult to define it. People know when they have it and
when it is violated. However, it is a challenge to clearly state what
constitutes dignity?
Dignity can be conceptualized in different ways and
following are some of the points that emerged during the chat:
1.
Dignity is a
sense of self worth.
- Dignity may be defined as a
sense of social inclusion—to belong to and to be valued by the society
that one belongs to. It also is the ability to challenge and influence how
that particular society understands, confirms and/or strengthens dignity.
- Dignity may not be separate
from culture, community, society completely; however, there is a need for
dignity to be linked to individual’s sense of self worth. Hence dignity might
be internally realized but is also externally defined.
2.
Ability to
work for a decent life
- Ability to work and secure a
decent life for oneself and one’s family is also a way of understanding
dignity. This ability to meet basic needs, however, takes many forms -
access to natural resources, having a decent job with living wage,
enforcement of labour laws, etc. Dignity is life with adequate standard of
living. Any activity such as corporate development that violates people’s
ability to meet basic needs hence is violating their dignity.
3.
Being free
from poverty as the starting point for dignity
·
Poverty undermines dignity. Without addressing poverty, dignity is
meaningless. When people are poor and cannot feed themselves, they are forced
to sell their soul in order to survive. Where there is extreme poverty; people
cannot think about dignity or human rights. When a person has nothing to fall
back on, where is dignity? For poor, need to survive and to keep their family
surviving, is the most critical issue. How do we make dignity real in such
adverse conditions?
·
At a basic level to have dignity is to be free from hunger, to have
work, to have respect, have adequate housing etc.—basic human rights.
·
Poverty does undermine dignity because of the deprivation of certain
conditions. However, the poorest families or communities have a strong sense of
humanity. Despite material deprivation there is a great sense of sharing and
solidarity—sharing whatever little they have, helping each other to survive.
4.
Community
Rights vs Individual Rights
There was a long discussion on
the notion of dignity in the context of community/collective and individual
rights. The points that were raised are:
- Dignity needs to be
conceptualized at community level and at individual level. Concept of
dignity should include community's dignity. The concept of duties and
responsibilities that individuals have within the community, need to get
translated when relating to individual dignity.
- Concept of dignity must be
supportive of others’ dignity and must include efforts to enable others to
realise their dignity. Similar to rights there are two things here:
- Ability to live in dignity
- Not to violate other’s dignity
The responsibility corresponding
to one’s ability to live in dignity is a right. The state should ensure no
laws, policy or activities of non-state actors violate other people’s dignity.
The second can be a moral responsibility towards humanity.
- With traditional forms of
communities being destroyed, sense of dignity that was communities’
responsibility is in danger. This can take fundamental tones rooted in
identity. What is state responsibility in preventing this?
- People’s dignity is very often
violated in the name of protecting a group’s or community’s traditions and
culture. This is evident in cases of oppression of women, in caste based
atrocities against Dalits.
- On the debate between
individual and group rights, the affirmation of women's rights is very
tricky. Patriarchal interpretations of culture entrap women's rights in a
conservative realm that lead to further violations of their rights. This
is generally perceived as preserving the dignity of that culture and
community.
5.
Dignity as a
moral value
- Dignity can be defined in terms
of values. Given today's challenges with global economic policies, dignity
can be a moral value. Rights are an attempt to give practical expression
to ways of living and relating that inculcates values. These aspirations
or values are really important as they can lead to realizing human rights.
Values are also relevant to people struggling in poverty.
- However, linking dignity and
morality, as was pointed out during the discussion, may not take us too
far. Morality is often externally defined, and usually manipulative and is
an attempt to get conformity on somebody else’s thinking on how people
should behave.
6.
Dignity—universal
vs individualistic
- In the presence of so much
diversity, can dignity at all have a universal definition that can be
justiciable in every situation? There is value developing a universal
understanding of dignity. Yet the challenge is how to be inclusive of all
the diversities. Definitions of dignity should ensure inclusion of all the
diverse contexts or situations.
- Drawing on commonalities from
marginalized voices such as of a Dalit woman in India,
and of a pastoralist in Africa a common
understanding of dignity can be reached. So even though understanding of
dignity can be individualistic there is something universal about it.
7.
Dignity, an
inherent human expression
Dignity is an expression of human
qualities for a humane society that all humanity has. As Aye Aye stated, ‘dignity is about living your life for
others’. Hence dignity is not about rights alone but about human
responsibilities—caring for others, ensuring dignity of others.
8.
Participation
in decision making processes also ensures dignity.
Dignity as a tool for human rights:
- Dignity is connected to
realization of human rights. Human rights are defining points of dignity
and dignity is a relevant entry point for people facing gross violations
of human rights.
- Human rights were developed to
protect human dignity- so the evolving content of human rights should
reflect concepts of dignity.
- Concepts of dignity are based
on contexts of decency. Human rights protection and recognition should
really become the benchmark to realization of dignity. Humanity will
achieve dignity when human rights are recognised and enforced. Therefore,
dignity may be defined by human rights in its ideal form and can be seen
in practice by the realisation of such rights. Dignity can also be defined
as a tool for human rights rather than defining it separately from the
human rights framework.
- Relevance of human rights is a
question of interpretation. Dignity can help bridge this gap and make
human rights real for people.
- There is a link between human
rights and dignity but the legal jargon associated with it is quite
alienating for many people. Human rights are not simply a legal framework
but social, political, moral tools for dialogue between all actors, to
help frame different systems and structure of relationships and society.
At the same time the human rights definition is supposed to be empowering
because of the laws that must be followed which can be clarified in
consultation with the people affected. Dignity can bring human rights
discourse closer to people by demystifying the elite legal language.
- Human rights should be seen as
a way of life beyond State obligations. This can help translate dignity to
reality. It is everyone’s responsibility. There is a need for transformative
learning on human right in order to realize human dignity.
Role of the
State
- When a struggle is linked to
aspirations it can in itself be a source of dignity. Poverty is not self
induced and even amongst the poorest communities are people with dignity.
The state clearly has obligations to ensure dignity.
- Respecting, protecting and
fulfilling human rights are State responsibilities. Government should
ensure people enjoy minimum (basic/adequate) quality of life. Demanding
State accountability needs conceptual clarity and mass awareness and
mobilization. The present trend towards a mere policing State needs to be
challenged by State’s social responsibilities. Can concepts of dignity be
used to monitor State accountability towards human rights obligations?
- How does the State ensure this,
especially when the State itself violates dignity? The State conveniently
only uses rights language but fails to implement rights.
- State should also intervene to
regulate activities of non-state actors who violate other people’s
dignities. In absence of any other structures to monitor non-state actors
is state responsibility.
Strategies
- Affected people should be at
the core of all advocacy strategies as active participants articulating
their issues and providing solutions.
- Economic empowerment is crucial
first step to achieve women’s dignity.
- Legal framework plays a role in
changing and shaping power structures but change won’t happen only through
them. Human rights need to be broadened beyond legal framework.
- We need to inculcate dignity as
a value on all decision-making tables - family, local, national,
international.
- Mass mobilisation and awareness
is important around this issue
- Concept of dignity should be
expanded like the principles of equality and non-discrimination to achieve
rights for women.
- Ensure more transformative
human rights learning and action processes while keeping people in the
driving seat.
- Develop a reader that
elaborates and concretises economic, social and cultural rights, minimum
core obligations of each right that would ensure a dignified life. This
can be a useful practical tool.
- Advocacy with specific demands
that may not cover the entire gamut of dignity, but some specificities,
depending on the place and the situation.
- Strategies to develop consensus
to ensure human life doesn't fall below a certain standard.
- Link rights to values. ESC
rights are key in defining dignity. This can then be linked to local
contexts and cultures.
The chat made us realize that we
have just started grappling with the whole issue of dignity and need further
exploration. To continue our conversations on this topic, PWESCR plans to
organized similar chats on dignity again shortly. If you are interested in
being part of such chats on dignity please email us at rdkumar@pwescr.org.