About Dignity Now!
What makes us special
We bring dignity to life by creating spaces and opportunities for people to express their own inherent dignity.
We bring dignity home by partnering with local educational and grassroots organizations so that all our work is rooted in the cultures and experiences of the people we co-create with. The impact of our work is amplified through the broad regional networks of our partners.
We bring our global perspective to all the work we do, informed by our expertise and experience, comparative research, and the international perspectives of our team of advisors.
We don’t work for others; we work with others. Dignity Now! harnesses the energy of dignity in every person, raising awareness of the power dignity law, and spurring action.
Our Team
Dignity Now! was founded by Erin Daly. For nearly 20 years, Erin has been studying and exploring how the law is recognizing, protecting, and fostering human dignity. She has worked with partners in many different countries to help build awareness of the rights we all have to protect our own dignity. Her body of work includes Dignity Rights: Courts, Constitutions and the Worth of the Human Person (2020), Dignity in America: Transforming Social Conflicts (2025), and a casebook, Dignity Law: Global Recognition, Cases, and Perspectives (2020, co-author). She is the editor of a forthcoming book of essays on cutting edge issues in dignity studies. She is a Fulbright Specialist and Professor Emerita at Widener University Delaware Law School, where she directs the Dignity Law Institute and the Dignity Rights Clinic. She is currently working with the Global Campus of Human Rights on a Micro-Learning Series on dignity law and she is co-teaching a Dignity Clinic at NALSAR in Hyderabad, India. Read more about Erin in this Interview in Cylindr. You can also listen to podcasts about this work on Teaching Legal Education and Dignity: Inside and Out.
Our Dignity Now! Intern is Mika Broder. Mika is a third-year student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a double major in Peace, Conflict and Justice, and Criminology and Sociolegal Studies. Her academic background, along with her personal and lived experiences, has cultivated a strong commitment to social change, social justice, and human rights advocacy.
Dignity Now! also benefits from the contributions of numerous students from the United States, France, India, and elsewhere.
Board of Directors
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Kayne Doumani is an affordable housing practitioner living in the unaffordable city of San Francisco, California. She is on the geeky end of economic justice. Her focus is on keeping affordable housing places where people can live with dignity -- safe, high-quality, stabile, and continuously affordable homes.
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Alexia Lewnes is a communications strategist and storyteller who has spent over 25 years working with international organizations to advance dignity, justice, and human rights. She brings a deep commitment to bringing forward voices that are often overlooked or dismissed.
Advisory Council
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Jigme is a final year student at JSW Law, whose journey of exploration and learning is eminently focused on the concept of dignity. An ardent believer in the power of storytelling, stewardship, and perspective taking, Jigme is a passionate learner who wishes to contribute meaningfully.
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José Mauricio is a student at Uniandes in Bogota, Colombia, with extensive experience in multi-media and visual arts on themes of social and environmental justice.
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Patrick is Professor of Law and Public Policy at the Faculty of Law and Business at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. He is the author of numerous publications about Australian law and represents people in the courts of Australian and before international human rights bodies.
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Camila received her PhD in Environmental Law from the Universidad de Alicante (2019) and her Master's degree in Legal Science from the University of Vale do Itajaí (2013), where she is Professor of Environmental Law. Researcher of International Environmental Law and ESG and the Manager of the Internationalization Sector at Univali.
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Sarah is a graduate of Widener University Delaware Law School. Sarah participated in the Dignity Rights Clinic, and was a research assistant for Professor Daly contributing research and writing for various projects concerning dignity rights.
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Both an attorney and experienced K-12 teacher, Betsy currently serves as the Executive Director of the Delaware Law Related Education Center (DELREC). Betsy was a classroom teacher and program leader for ten years, teaching AP Government, Speech & Debate, Global Peace & Social Justice, and U.S. History. Before teaching, she worked as an attorney in Pennsylvania, focusing on juvenile criminal justice and family law. It is a life goal of hers to create educational opportunities for all. She holds a JD from Temple University Beasley School of Law and a Master’s degree in Education from Stanford University.
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Wendy’s long-term commitment to dignity—demonstrated through her roles as co-founder of Youth Infusion and the Youth Activism Project—challenges adults to respect and harness the imagination, insights and ideas of young people, especially those under age 18.
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Liz'Angela is a recent graduate of Florida International University, where she was involved in several activities, including Model United Nations. Originally from Haiti, Liz'Angela has worked with many people migrating to the United States and brought a deep level of empathy to her work. Her experiences meeting people from all over the world during difficult times in their lives sparked her passion for human rights and inspired her to pursue a future career in law.
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Natalia is an SJD student at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. Natalia is the Chief Operating Officer at the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment and the Colombian Rapporteur of the Sabin Center's Global Peer Reviewers' Network of Climate Litigation. Her recent publications include Gender in Climate Litigation in Latin America: Epistemic Justice Through a Feminist Lens (Journal of Human Rights Practice) and Climate change and gender-based violence in Colombia: peacebuilding, feminism and the special jurisdiction for peace (Handbook on Gender and Security).
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Karma is a final-year law student at the law school in Bhutan and a member of the Human Dignity Clinic. Her academic studies, alongside her practical experience, have deepened her passion for dignity and the work surrounding it. Karma is dedicated to social justice causes, advocating for the protection and promotion of child rights, and ensuring access to justice for all.
Why dignity? Why now?
Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
“They treat us like we’re trash,” said the 10-year old boy, looking around him, his hands showing me the scenery all around him. Mounds of trash, 5 or 6 feet high, much taller than the kids who scampered up and down the slope. The trash has been there so long, untouched, that plants grow on it. The kids tread carefully, avoiding sharp edges and watery slush that would squish between their toes. But they play too. Three smaller children run down the hill, drawing little trains behind them, beat up cans tied together with a long string. Down along the path, two girls giggle and sing a song.
Yes, these kids play and laugh and sing, but they also know. They know what dignity is, and that it’s missing from their lives. They know they’re treated like the trash that is the landscape of their lives. They know that the world has turned a blind eye to them.
That was five years ago. These kids know more now.
Just like kids in the war zones of Gaza and the Ukraine, kids in refugee camps in Tanzania and Congo, kids living in destitution on the streets of most cities on earth. They know too.
Dignity Now! grows out of a desire to prove them wrong. To show them that the world does care, and that they have not been forgotten or ignored.
And it grows out of a desire to prove them right. To affirm their inherent human dignity. To treat them with the dignity they deserve, and to value their lives. To ensure that they are seen, and not forgotten. Because their lives, their needs, their hopes for the future matter just as much as anyone else’s. Recognition and protection of their dignity is long overdue.