HUMAN DIGNITY AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. CONSIDERATIONS ON THE CONCEPT OF DIGNITY IN THE LATEST DOCTRINE OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE

Human dignity constitutes a value recognized in the rights enshrined in both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. After a brief introduction on the legal relevance of human dignity, this article focuses on the analysis of this concept in the doctrine of the European Court of Human Rights in relation to the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the prohibition of slavery and forced labor, the right to respect for private and family life, etc. The authors then analyze human dignity from the perspective of the Court of Justice of the European Union, examining the implementation of this value before and after the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice. This study concludes with some considerations on the importance of human dignity as a fundamental right, as a founding value of the European Union and as an interpretative standard for the other rights granted in the European territory.