Dignity Before the European Court of Human Rights

Boyashov A, Kuteynikov A. Dignity Before the European Court of Human Rights. In: Sieh E, McGregor J, eds. Human Dignity. Establishing Worth and Seeking Solutions. London: Palgrave Macmillan; 2017: 83-101.The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms shifted the concept of dignity protection from the political and legal articulation into reality and established control bodies. European Court of Human Rights examines dignity encroachment as serious violations of human rights, which raises important issues concerning interpretation of the Convention. According to the judgments of the ECHR, as our analysis reflects, among the typical dignity infringements, one could find a violation of prohibition against torture (about one-half of cases). ECHR strives to develop and maintain strong legal concept of dignity regardless of instrumental approach to the dignity from the states and applicants on the ground of the dignity’s alleged vagueness. The infringements of dignity in the Court’s judgments indicate the typical social groups who seek to protect their dignity before the Court, including children, refugees, detainees, female representatives of ethnic and religious minorities, representatives of ethnic communities, migrants, the disabled, legal practitioners, and judges