Language and Persuasion

Human Dignity at the European Court of Human Rights

Bibliographic Data

ID16764644
AuthorsVeronika Fikfak (0000-0003-0036-558X, Centre for International Governance Innovation), Lora Izvorova
Year2022
Volume22
Issue3
Publication date2022-06-07
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Rights Law Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-7781 • E-ISSN: 1744-1021
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/hrlr/ngac018
OpenAlexW4289533137
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited1

Although the concept of human dignity is absent from the text of the European Convention on Human Rights, it is mentioned in more than 2100 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The judges at the Court have used dignity to develop the scope of Convention rights, but also to signal to respondent states just how serious a violation is and to nudge them toward better compliance. However, these strategies reach dead ends when the Court is faced with government submissions that are based on a conception of dignity that is different from the notion of human dignity relied on by the Court. Through empirical analysis and by focusing on Russia, the country against which the term dignity is used most frequently, the paper maps out situations of conceptual contestation and overlap. We reveal how the Court strategically uses mirroring, substitutes dignity for other Convention values, or altogether avoids confrontation. In such situations, the Court’s use (and non-use) of dignity becomes less about persuading states to comply with the Convention and more about preserving its authority and managing its relationship with states

Dignity · Human rights · Persuasion · Political science · European and International Law Studies · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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