Human Dignity – fundamental value and justiciable right

When it comes to our basic human rights, those that usually jump to mind include access to water, adequate housing, health care services, basic education, etc. Perhaps it is because these rights are easy to explain.

What about the right to dignity? Section 10 of our Constitution reads that everyone has the right to have their dignity respected and protected.

Dignity is, however, often described as ‘fluffy’ in that our Constitutional Court has yet to define it. Many therefore argue that it cannot be seen as a human right on its own and rather serves as a guide/ value when interpreting the various other human rights found in our Constitution.

In the spirit of Human Rights Month, we have assembled some of our favourite judgement quotes on human dignity. 

1. In S v Dodo, concerning cruel and degrading punishment, the court raised the importance of human dignity.

2. Human dignity furthermore endorses our political rights.

3. In the case quoted below, it was acknowledged that “dignity is a difficult concept to capture in precise terms.” Nonetheless, it was ruled that the criminalisation of sodomy impairs human dignity.

 

     4. The Dawood case highlighted that human dignity is also a justiciable and enforceable right in itself. The court stressed that a human rights infringement can infringe more than one right. Cruel and degrading punishment infringes our right to bodily integrity as well as our right to human dignity, for example.

        

Wishing you a spectacular Monday! 

Yours truly,

Legal Hero. 

www.legalhero.co.za

Same Sex Marriages Introduction

Did you know? South Africa was the first country to proclaim:

a)      Sexual orientation as a human right in both its Interim (1993) and Final Constitution (1996);

b)      that discrimination based on sex, gender or sexual orientation was forbidden.

In spite of the above, the recognition of same-sex marriages only came much later as the South African Common Law (mixture of Roman Dutch and English Law) merely defined a marriage as "a union of one man with one woman, to the exclusion, while it lasts, of all others,” resulting in conflict and a direct contravention of Section 9 (the equality clause) of our Constitution.

It was not up until the lengthy and well renowned battle in Minister of Home Affairs and Another v Fourie and Another 2005, that the Common Law definition of marriage (and the marriage formula in the Marriage Act, to the extent that they excluded same-sex partners from marriage), was declared unfairly discriminatory and unjustifiable by the Constitutional Court. This judgment was handed down by nine justices, agreeing unanimously that the Common Law definition of marriage was unconstitutional and invalid. 

Wishing you a fantastic Friday and weekend ahead, 

Legal Hero. 

www.legalhero.co.za.