The Notion of Human Dignity according to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Abstract

This article analyses the notion of human dignity as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, with particular attention to its role as the foundation of fundamental rights. After outlining the historical emergence of dignity in international human rights law, it assesses the strengths and ethical shortcomings of the EU Charter. The study argues for the existence of an essential, innate core of human dignity, irreducible to its multiple functional or contextual uses in legal discourse. It proposes a reconstructive synthesis of “foundational dignity” as a supreme and unifying principle necessary to ensure coherence, objectivity, and resistance to relativistic interpretations within the human rights system.