Emergence of modern system of nation-states with the concept of people’s sovereignty is a land mark in the development of human civilization. Of the individual rights guaranteed within the state, some of them have been characterized as basic or fundamental. It is said that human rights are inalienable from individuals as human beings. These individual rights are not to be understood and realized only within the organization of the state as citizen of the state, but as human beings irrespective of their belonging to any particular state. These concrete human rights such as right to life, right to liberty, right to conscience, human dignity etc are essential for physical, mental, intellectual, cultural and spiritual development of human person (Keir, 1968, p.361). So it can be realized that human dignity is the fundamental part of human rights. It is that kind of right which no one can take away from you. This should be included in all of constitution in the world.
Democracy is the most popular form of government system. So in a country all of the things are invested for the people. So there can’t have any law or any provision which is against the human beings that why all of the constitution ensure the aspiration of the people. Human dignity is the in borne rights of human being. Social rights place a positive obligation on governments to ensure that their people can live and work in conditions that provide a basic level of human dignity. In the Constitution such obligations are generally expressed along with Fundamental Rights and reiterated in the Principles of State Policy. “Constitution is a charter of liberty, the blueprint for a noble and unique experiment designed to prevent the excesses of government in order to protect the human dignity necessary for individuals to realize the full potential of their lives”(Chicago-Kent ACS).
Human dignity is a gigantic term. Many things are related to it such as Right to give free speech, right to move, right to do politics and even about dead body etc all are included to human dignity. Now in the world there are very few countries where there is no provision for human dignity. It is very much important to have the provision about human dignity in constitution. That’s why the third world country like Cambodia, Nigeria, Searralion, East Timor, Bangladesh etc have kept it in their constitution as a fundamental rights. It can be said that generally violation of human dignity happens in a poor country. So it is most essential to have a provision about human dignity in that type of country. South Africa introduced this provision in their constitution in 1986, the constitution of the republic of the Philippines introduced it in1987.
On the other hand if it is not included in constitution then what will happen? In general sense it can be said that if it is not in constitution then it will be included in general law. Zanber states that “Israel would be the first country to write a new constitution, and negate a right that existed prior to its ratification.”
Lastly it is stated that it is not essential to the defense of human dignity to argue that only humans have this power of conceptual thought and (to be discussed in a moment) free choice. “However, there is no evidence of such conceptual thought or free choice in other animals. It is sometimes argued that perhaps some nonhuman animals do have minds like humans do, only at a diminished level” (Lee and George, March 2008). So it should be said that all are equal in the eye of law and no discrimination should be allowed in any law. As constitution is the supreme law of the country that’s why the provision like human dignity should be included to it.
References
Chicago-Kent ACS: Chapter Constitution, American Constitution Society of Washington College of Law Constitution. American Constitution Society for Law & Policy. Web.
Keir, L. Davis. (1968). The Constitutional History of Modern British since 1485. Low-Prince Textbook. Ninth ed.,London: English Language Book Society.
Lee, Patrick., and George, P. Robert. (2008). Human Dignity and Bioethics: Essays Commissioned by the President’s Council on Bioethics. In Chapter 16: The Nature and Basis of Human Dignity. Web.
Zanber, Formulation of a Narrow Conception of Dignity. Web.