The Construction of Dignity as a Human Right:

Lessons From The Judiciary of Pakistan and Germany

by Mawra Raja

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This article analyses the propensity of human dignity to qualify as a human right in Pakistan and Germany, two states that have enshrined the concept in their Constitutions. It examines selected judicial decisions of the German and Pakistani courts, to see whether their construction and use of dignity is coherent with the constitutive elements of human rights, which will be previously identified and listed. The resulting findings suggest that human dignity, as interpreted and applied by the German and Pakistani judiciary, satisfies all the constitutive elements of a human right and therefore qualifies as one. It will be shown how dignity is defined in very similar terms by the respective courts as the fundamental freedom of human beings to determine themselves. Nevertheless, the construction of dignity in the daily working of the two legal system presents different nuances, since it is a matter of societal understanding of the individual and its role in the community. However, a minimum common ground can be identified in the role dignity plays in providing the last line of defence to core values of human existence against grave governmental infringements.