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Where does dignity fit in a human rights based approach?
Where does dignity fit? Dignity underpins human rights, and human rights are a mechanism for protecting peoples’ dignity. Dignity can be understood as preceding the PANEL principles. In other words, dignity is what comes first; protecting it is part of the rationale for implementing human rights through human rights–based approaches.
DigniSpace is structured around the acronym PRE-PANEL where ‘PRE’ is your space for exploring dignity, before engaging with the different levels of a human rights-based approach.
P
R
E
P
Participation
A
Accountability
N
Non-discrimination
E
Empowerment
L
Legality
P
Participation
A
Accountability
N
Non-discrimination
E
Empowerment
L
Legality
Dignity as Power, Respect and Equal humanity
PRE-PANEL emphasises that dignity is an idea that underpins a human rights based approach. DigniSpace highlights three key elements of dignity’s meaning to guide your reflections – the ideas of Power, Respect and Equal humanity.
Being able to exercise some degree of power, or having someone exercising some degree of power on our behalf, over our circumstances, is often seen as linked to the meaning of dignity.
Some physical contexts (such as detention in hospital) and relationships reduce our power over our circumstances, but powerlessness can also be symbolic.
Respect is the word most commonly associated with dignity. We use it as a verb to describe a way of interacting with a person, and as a synonym for dignity itself. Respect can be about self-perceptions but is also dependent on everyday relationships.
The meaning of dignity today cannot be dissociated from the idea that all people have equal humanity. Although equal humanity and equality are related ideas, equal humanity expresses something that is more profound than equal treatment – it captures the basic status of human beings as members of the human community.
Later in DigniSpace you will have the opportunity to understand, evaluate and make connections between these ideas and explore the ways in which they are relevant to your care practice.
