Human dignity in the case law of international courts and tribunals

The proposed research aims at providing a comparative analysis of the use of dignity language in the case law of international courts and tribunals. Human dignity plays an increasingly central role in international law as indicated by the growing number of references to human dignity across a wide spectrum of international legal instruments. At the same time the number of international courts and tribunals tasked with the interpretation and application of these instruments has multiplied. The research project is located at the intersection of these two developments. The first part addresses the indeterminacy of human dignity with the aim to determine whether the case law of the international judiciary – representing ‘the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world’ – allows us to identify an ‘overlapping consensus’ on its meaning, nature and function. The second part addresses the frequently voiced concern that the multiplication of international courts may lead to a fragmentation of international law. Arguing that judicial dialogue could increase the coherence of international adjudication, the research analyzes the potential of human dignity as an enabler of dialogue and examines whether the conversations that can be observed at the constitutional level also take place between international courts. The last part finally examines the usefulness and legitimacy of dignity language in international case law, evaluating under which conditions dignity language can legitimately be used by the international judiciary.