Dignidad y Derechos Humanos PDF

# Dignidad y Derechos Humanos ## La Persona Humana - La persona humana es el hombre con todas sus facultades. - Intelligence (which allows them to think and act reflectively) - Will (which allows action freely and consciously) - The ability to communicate with their fellow human be...

# Dignidad y Derechos Humanos ## La Persona Humana - La persona humana es el hombre con todas sus facultades. - Intelligence (which allows them to think and act reflectively) - Will (which allows action freely and consciously) - The ability to communicate with their fellow human beings (through language, they communicate their thoughts, feelings, and desires) - This is why it is said that man is the supreme being on Earth. ## Totality and Independence - When we speak of human beings, we are referring to the notions of totality and independence. - **Totality** because the physical and spiritual cannot be separated in man. - **Independence** because the individual man is the source of many values and virtues that come from his own human nature, aimed at achieving the common good of society. ## Basic Components - The basic component of human rights, the principle that no one should treat another person in a way they would not like to be treated, is found practically at all levels of society in the world. - Human rights are not only the instruments that exist at an international level. - Practically every human right at the international level has a corresponding or similar right in each legal system, religion, culture, and tradition. ## Human Rights' Nature - Human rights are the fundamental, moral, and legal requirements that arise from the nature and dignity of the human person. - The aim of human rights is the recognition and respect for the dignity, values, and fundamental equality of human beings and the achievement of the common good. ## The Value of Being Human (Dignity) - Why is the human being more valuable than any other living being? - This is one of the most complex issues in ontological, ethical, and theological thought. - There are three main currents of thought on dignity: ontological, ethical, and theological. - Without being philosophers in ancient Greece, theologians of the early centuries, or ethicists, students who participated in this exercise arrived at the same conclusions as those great thinkers. ## Dignity's Nature - Dignity is an innate quality of man that elevates and magnifies him before other living beings: - It has its origin in human nature itself. - It is because of this quality that the human being is the ultimate source of moral, civic, and patriotic values. - From the dignity of the person arises a set of rights that are recognized by the laws, respected, and protected by the state. - **Reason:** Human beings and their rights are prior to and superior to the state: - The human person and respect for his dignity are the ultimate goal of society and the state. - These rights are enshrined in Title I, Chapter I of the Peruvian Political Constitution. ## Maximizing Dignity - The dignity of the human person reaches its maximum realization when: - It guarantees man **full freedom** (to fulfill his destiny), - It provides him with **legal security**, - It allows him to **practice justice** as the highest value in social life. ## History of Dignity - Just over half a century ago, we were beginning to hear emphasis on the dignity of the human being, as a result of reflection on the atrocities committed during World War II, rejecting, thus, all those barbarities committed against humanity in wars. ## Integral Development - Any life project of the human being must contemplate integral development based on the idea that he is an end and never a means. - For Marina, the dignity of the human person appears, then, as a symbol of the person's identity, endowed with intelligence and freedom, as a moral being. - The idea of dignity is very attractive, and it is currently one of the "hooks" in the transcendental moral discourse of humanity, which has found its best operational definition and its most obvious concretion in the concept of human rights ## Dignity: Pluridisciplinary and Multidimensional - Perhaps the most significant step in the development of the idea of human dignity took place in the Middle Ages, when it was already understood that the human being is worthy because of what he is, in his attributes and characteristics, in his ontology. - From that moment on, the human being is worthy in himself, independently of social appreciation, recognition, or valuation, or of his relationship with divinity. - Humanity, human nature, is conceived with an intrinsic dignity and value. ## Categories - It is necessary to understand the first category of characterization and configuration of human dignity: - It is present in its interrelation with various disciplines: philosophy, anthropology, politics, and law. - This paper focuses only on ethics and law. ## Ethics - **Ethics** is interested in human dignity because the person herself is the source of rights and duties. - **Ethics** is where the moral fact is based: - It is the subject of moral actions, the one who values and discovers in herself the moral norms, the one who experiences the primal fact of conscience: - This is ultimately the one who, relying on his experiences and having in mind all his relationships, is able not only to perceive the moral fact and duty but also to investigate its objectivity and foundation. ## Law - The idea of dignity appears in legal texts inextricably linked to the *Universal Declaration of Human Rights* in 1948: - Each individual, independently of his social, cultural, and economic situation, has inalienable rights and dignity, - Therefore, these must be guaranteed at all times and in any place. - Human dignity is the reason why rights are recognized, - It is its justification. - The *Universal Declaration of Human Rights* cited in Marin (2017), calls for a multidimensional category of human rights. - The human person has a religious, ontological, ethical, and social dimension: - The first dimension (...) considers the person in the image and likeness of God, - With Christianity on stage, dignity is based on a bond with divinity. - The second dimension indicates that the person is endowed with rational intelligence, with self-awareness, and with a sense of his superiority in the world order. - On the other hand, the third dimension states that the person is endowed with a sense of moral autonomy, as an essential function of conscience before any norm and before any model of conduct. - Finally, the fourth dimension *(collected by the Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary)* defines human dignity as the form of behavior of the person guided by his gravity and decorum. ## Dignity's Meaning - What are we talking about when we talk about *dignity*? - In linguistics, *polysemy* refers to an expression or word that has a plurality of meanings: - The word *dignity* is one of these. - This is why it is difficult to approach its study or mention in a philosophical, ethical, theological, or legal discourse. - Is it the same meaning of *dignity* that philosophers, bioethicists, theologians, jurists or any university student refer to? - Most likely not. - And this is why the tangled debates, especially in bioethics and law, often lead to endless disagreement, and which have as a battlefield a very rocky and dark territory because of its semantic vagueness. - **A. Ontological Dignity:** - It is perhaps worthwhile starting from Kant's idea regarding dignity: - For the philosopher of Königsberg, *dignity* (Würde) is the intrinsic value of the person (Barrio, 2016). - Dignity lies inherently in the person, in his being-a-person. - In other words, we are valuable simply for the fact of being people, for the simple fact of existing. - This is what Roberto Andorno states: - In short, we can characterize ontological dignity with the following descriptive statements: - a. It is the value that the person has for being what she is. - b. It is the intrinsic value of the person. - c. It is innate and immutable. - It cannot be lost or gained in any circumstance, neither by acting poorly or well, nor by being a criminal or a saint. - d. It is based on the *being* of the human being. ## Human Dignity in Modern and Contemporary Times - Contextualizing the issue that interests us, we find that during ancient and medieval times, there was little interest in elevating the dignity of the human person to a higher order than that of other beings in the cosmos. - For Verdross (1983), classical philosophers such as the Sophists, followed by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, raised the existence of nature and thus conceived the dignity of the person. - Their ideas were later taken up by Cicero (...), who clearly bases dignity in human nature. - However, significant advances in this regard took place in the transition between the modern and contemporary eras, as a result of what humanity itself has been able to accomplish. - During the modern era, the *configuration of the person* as the *center of the world*, was emphasized. - It is important to note that the contribution to the development of the concept of human dignity is present in two currents of thought: - The *Christian and secular* currents. - This underlines the principle that human rights are universal. - The principles of human rights are not applied differently to people from different cultures or traditions, - They apply equally to all people in any part of the world and regardless of circumstances. - This is why every human rights instrument begins with the statement that its provisions must apply without discrimination and lists the bases on which discrimination is unacceptable. - With Kant's contribution, we find that the person has dignity, not a price, because all irrational objects have a relative value (material/use) as a means, while rational beings are free of it: - *"They are called persons and their own nature sets them apart as ends in themselves as something that cannot be used simply as a means, and thus restricts any arbitrary action (to constitute an object of respect)*" (Aramayo, s.f., p. 138). - In this way, Kant expresses this principle of dignity and inviolability of the person connected with the practical imperative: - "*Act in such a way that you use humanity, both in your person and in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means*" (Aramayo, s.f., p. 139). - In other words, any life project of humanity, which is based on the idea that it is an goal and never a means (instrument), begins with education: - It is built upon education and is constantly continued with it because one learns and lives until the end. - Education offers humanity a horizon of infinite possibilities, which should only aim for the good. - In this way, the dignity of the person encompasses a specific way of living a human life: - It is a model of thinking, living, and doing. ## Human Dignity: Source of Human Rights - It is worth mentioning that the term *human dignity* is relatively recent in legal literature. - **Countries like the United States and France, at the end of the 18th century, in their declarations did not refer to dignity as such, but only to notions of freedom, equality, property and even, if necessary, happiness. ** - From the 18th century to the mid-20th century, events perpetrated as a result of world wars caused great fear. - When states sign and ratify international agreements on human rights, they abandon part of their sovereignty and can be observed both from within and abroad. - As law and the principles of human rights are becoming more universally accepted and are increasingly part of customary law, even without ratification of relevant instruments, states and individuals can be held accountable for their actions. - **Ratification of the UN Convention is a different commitment from an act, as is the signing of the Declaration and the Plan of Action of the World Summit for Childhood. ** - Ratification implies a legal commitment to the obligations of States Parties to comply with the rights as enshrined in the Convention. It will be a moral and legal obligation, and, in a certain sense, the *should* can precede the *can* because of the expectation that countries will mobilize resources to respond to this moral imperative. - For example, the statement by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a press conference on the Kosovo crisis: "The world can no longer stand by if a government persecutes its people arguing that it is an internal matter." - A misunderstanding about the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been widely promoted in many countries, is that recognition of the rights of the child undermines the rights and responsibilities of families and parents. - Because the primary responsibility of fulfilling the rights recognized in the Convention rests with the State Party; however, the Convention establishes from the outset the preeminent importance of the role of parents in raising their children. - The Preamble identifies *the family* as "the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members, and especially of children." - **Article 5** establishes the requirement that states respect the responsibilities, rights, and duties of parents, or, in their case, of members of the extended family or the community, as established by local custom, of guardians or other legally responsible persons for the child. - Furthermore, throughout the Convention it is emphasized the need on the part of the state to support and strengthen parents so that they can do the best possible job in helping their children develop in all aspects. - Only when the family fails to provide care in the best interest of the child, is the state allowed to intervene, and it is assumed that initial interventions will support the maintenance of family unity. - **The breaking up of the family, through the separation of a child from his parents, is the last resort when all other measures to protect the child from circumstances such as abuse or neglect have failed** (Article 9). - Even then, the Convention requires that the state assist children in maintaining personal relationships and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, unless it is contrary to the child's best interests. - **Human rights break into this context, gaining space and a re-direction of a humanity characterized by ethnocentrism; they make progress in terms of pacification and valuing the person, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, class, caste, religious belief, age, or sexual orientation, as expressed in their content of declaration dated 1948.** - This is how the concept and emphasis on human dignity came to be incorporated into legal texts, in the context of the internationalization of human rights, after World War II. ## Human Dignity - **Human dignity is the founding value of all human rights; it constitutes the basis of the idea of these, although there are other founding values, such as freedom, equality, solidarity, security or peace, and human dignity stands prior to these, as its ontological species, as the core fundamental of the idea of human rights (UN General Assembly, 1948).** - According to what has been said, it is worth mentioning what is expressed in the Universal Declaration itself, because abuse against human rights has not ended, although countless people have achieved greater freedom, preventing violations, gaining independence and autonomy. - Many, although not all, have been able to guarantee freedom from torture, exemption from unjustified imprisonment, from summary execution, enforced disappearance, persecution and discrimination, and access to education, economic resources, adequate care and health care (UN General Assembly, 1948). - While the meaning of human dignity has been communicated and continues, in our time, it is spreading throughout the world, it is still an ideal in all countries. - Currently, society itself is experiencing a decline in appreciation of its own human dignity; undesirable behaviors in this social context reveal that the individual sees himself as devalued, therefore, he also does not allow himself to be honored as a person, both individually and socially. - Society has forgotten that one of its fundamental duties is to guarantee the existence, the safeguarding of all goods in general and the coexistence among individuals. - This requires that the person order and regulate his activities, actions, functions, relationships in general with the other and his performance. - The individual himself, in his social development, forgets or does not want to understand that those around him are people of honor; therefore, they deserve respect. - And what is evident, constantly? - It has been a constant that individuals appeal more to the first, leaving aside the second, there we see the dignity of mankind trampled on, which calls for giving the moral good to the other. - The dignity of a person is abused when it is ignored that a person, a prominent man, has dignity like the one who is deprived of his liberty for having committed murder, homicide, rape, or robbery, to cite a few offenses. - It is that they have forgotten that even in the being itself is where human dignity is rooted, the person is worth what she is, she herself must take care of her dignity. - All humanity is endowed with that quality, because it encapsulates creation more privileged over all nature, being endowed with a rational and moral dimension, which allows her to make decisions about her will. - This is how, independently of their achievements and failures, of their social or economic position, of their physical traits and mental capabilities, both men and women deserve honor, because they have a common denominator that qualifies them as people. ## Co-creation - The human person is privileged not only by what was said earlier, but also because he questions his own personal reality through understanding, his capacity for decision and his responsibility, which are part of his dignity. - It´s worthwhile mentioning that this is thanks to the openness of the human being (understand intelligence and freedom), he considers himself as the only being that asks about himself; moreover, he sees himself compelled to ask about his existence, because he realizes that his being is not an object made like a mineral, nor a mere living being, like a fish or a bird, whose instincts make them do things; but rather it´s an existing one, that is, someone who walks towards the future, carrying on his shoulders the weight of the past and building a present. - Heidegger poses a challenge as to the place the being occupies in the world. - It is not isolated, but deserves respect, but also this value must be given in the co-creation that it carries out in the world, because the person is a being that is becoming, surrounded by other useful objects, especially by other personal beings, which the philosopher calls *Mitdasein*. - Being a person is being in relationship, it would be incorrect to say that the human person is first and then relates, but rather you have to say that, as a person, he exists relating. - The previous idea has also been formulated by saying that the person is a social being, but understanding this statement in a strong sense, that is, it is social not only by necessity, as was considered by Aristotle, but it is constitutionally so (Aragó, 1997). - The human being is one with the other and for the other; this is where the person applies, in the development of his interpersonal and social relationships, a configuration of adaptation and personalization that leads him to seek the good. - The bonds developed by people, irrespective of the society to which they belong or the culture in which they move and project themselves, are not instrumental ties. - Human dignity does not contemplate relationships of that kind; - The other is not an object for me, it is not a relationship of opposition (master-slave), but of reciprocity, it is not a link of dependence, but of encounter (Lévinas, cited in Aragó, 1997). - In this encounter, there is already an implication of exchange, of trying to put myself in the place of the other and see him similar to me, attending to him as the person who deserves honor and respect, because we possess a common humanity. - In this last one, language, more than a social construct and understood as signs and symbols, helps us as people to develop a dialogical reality, with which we can know and value our fellow human beings for what they really are,  not for what they have and what can  be obtained from them. ## Values Linked to Human Dignity - The dignity of the person emanates values such as justice, life, liberty, equality, security, and solidarity, which are the basic dimensions of the person, which, as such, become basic values and determine the existence and legitimacy of all rights recognized by the legal order. - **The value of life:** - While other living beings do not reach a certain level of consciousness, the human being, being capable of self-awareness, self-possession or self-control, can access the other values cited: security, equality, freedom, etc. - Values that, in terms of inspiring concrete actions, dignify those who seek to achieve them. - At the same time, this right raises ethical and legal issues related to the beginning of life, its course, and the end of life itself. - **The value of freedom:** - It is perhaps the most important one that philosophers, poets, prophets, and politicians have stressed. - **Freedom can be defined in very broad terms as the exemption from a need to fulfill an end.** - Freedom can be viewed from two different perspectives: - Negative and positive. - From a negative perspective, we speak of negative liberty, which consists in the absence of coercion. - This means that there is an area where you can act without the interference of other individuals or the state. - **The value of equality**: - It has its counterpart in discrimination, it is the principle that inspires all economic, social, and cultural rights. - This is usually considered as a norm that establishes a criterion by which all other norms relate to the subjects of law. - For all people, if they meet the conditions for the applicability of a norm, it should be applied in the same way. - Exceptions apply only when relevant circumstances justify a different normative treatment, in the interest of the subject affected by such circumstances. - **The value of security**: - The concept of security is intimately related to the State of Law or the state that is subject to law and not above it or that can ignore it. - Therefore, there is a high degree of certainty in preserving certain basic legal rules and the way these apply is in a predetermined manner, under certain requirements expressly and previously established, which we know as legal security.