Dignity Now!
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Bringing dignity to life.
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Dignity is the sense we all have of our own self-worth. It’s the thing we carry with us throughout our lives, that moves us to speak our truth and inspires us to fight for justice.
Dignity Now! is a platform for bolstering people’s sense of their own dignity, expanding awareness of dignity and dignity rights, and helping to bend the arc of the law toward dignity.
We work in partnership with local organizations throughout the world to develop educational campaigns for young people and opportunities for creative expressions of dignity. We provide expertise on dignity awareness and dignity rights. We make legal and academic resources freely available for anyone who wants to learn more.
This space is for anyone interested in how the idea of human dignity can change the way we think about law, justice, and the world we want to live in. We invite you to join us!
Why dignity matters
Dignity matters to you
It’s the inherent worth of each person’s life
Dignity is like a coin that every human being is born with that they never lose. It’s the thing every person values the most because it’s each person’s sense of self.
Can you imagine what you would be like if you did not have a sense of dignity?
Every person has equal and inalienable worth
Every person has the right to be treated “as a person”, with dignity. And every person has the obligation to treat others with dignity.
Dignity matters in relationships
To protect one’s dignity is to recognize the equal dignity of every other “member of the human family.”
Dignity matters to society
Dignity is the shortest line from the human heart to the law. It’s what gives people the right to have rights.
Dignity rights are the rights every person has to have their dignity protected and promoted . This includes the right to be treated “as a person,” the right to live with decency, and the right to fully develop your personality. These are the basic human rights that belong to all members of the human family.
“Number one in your life’s blueprint should be: a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth and your own somebodiness.”
Why Dignity Now?
There’s no better time to expand the space in which human dignity comes to life.
At Dignity Now!, we co-create programs and projects with children, youth, and others who feel marginalized or disempowered, so that every person can fully experience their equal worth.
Each project is tailored to the needs, resources, and opportunities in local communities in partnership with locally rooted and broadly networked organizations and institutions. This ensures that all our work is framed by international and domestic law, grounded in local community culture, and widely accessible.
A dignity primer
What is dignity?
Why is everyone talking about it?
What are dignity rights?
Why should you care?
There’s no settled definition, but here’s a start: it’s a birthright that reflects the inherent, inalienable, inviolable, and equal worth of every person, everywhere. It’s the sense you have that your life matters. And it’s the recognition that everyone has the equal right to respect as a person.
Just after World War II, international law reaffirmed the inherent worth of “every member of the human family.” Since then, most international human rights instruments and more than 170 constitutions around the world have also recognized the primacy of human dignity. Now, courts everywhere are taking dignity seriously.
Dignity Rights are the legal rights that people have to protect their dignity. Courts around the world are shaping the law to protect every person’s right to live with dignity, to fully and freely develop their personality, to belong in society on an equal basis with others, and to be treated with dignity by others.
Because you have human dignity and you want the law to protect it. And everyone should have the same rights to protect their sense of dignity.
On this site, you can…
EXPLORE our educational materials for children and young people
