Rescheduled - The Relationship Between Dignity and Human Rights Law: Consensus, Contestation, and Culture

This event with Dr Elaine Webster, University of Strathclyde, has been rescheduled to 28th November 2025. 

The concept of human dignity is understood to have played a key rule in the founding of international human rights law, catalysing consensus that drove the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since then the concept has generated significant academic debate in which its role and meaning has been contested. At the same time, the concept has been embraced in the judicial culture of human rights doctrine in relation to a range of human rights, notably in case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. This talk will discuss the relationship between the concept of human dignity and human rights law, focusing on themes of consensus, contestation, and culture. Marking the anniversary of the ECHR, it will end by asking whether the concept of dignity might play a role in building and embedding a wider public culture of human rights.