{
    "page_header": "Dignity Law Institute",
    "top_image": "{wwwroot}files/pages/dignityrights2020banner1920px.jpg",
    "img_alt_text": "",
    "page_intro": "<p>The Dignity Law Institute is the only law school program in the country dedicated to the legal right to live with dignity.</p>",
    "page_content": "<p>The Dignity Law Institute offers students opportunities for experiential learning and practical applications in partnership with legal, academic, non-profit, community-based organizations in all parts of the world as well as national and international advocacy groups -- all to advance the human right to dignity! The Institute houses the Dignity Rights Clinic, sponsors research opportunities, and develops working partnerships.</p>\r\n<p>Human dignity recognizes the equal and inalienable value of every member of the human family. It is recognized in the International Bill of Rights, and in most Human Rights Instruments, including the Sustainable Development Goals. It is incorporated into most of the world's constitutions, and courts around the world are increasingly vindicating dignity rights in civil, political, social, economic, cultural and environmental contexts. Dignity Law is an emerging, global, and foundational area of law that touches every aspect of the human experience.</p>\r\n<h3>Co-Directors</h3>\r\n<p><a href=\"ipl://20//WyIyOSJd////\">Erin Daly</a></p>\r\n<p><a href=\"ipl://20//WyIxMjIiXQ==////\">James May</a></p>\r\n<p>For more information and for opportunities to get involved, please email co-Founders Professors Erin Daly at&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:edaly@widener.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"0\">edaly@widener.edu</a>&nbsp;or James R. May at&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:jrmay@widener.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"1\">jrmay@widener.edu</a>.</p>\r\n<p>The Dignity Law Institute is pleased to share important new resources in Dignity Law,&nbsp;developed by Delaware Law Students and others.</p>\r\n<ol>\r\n<li>The Dignity Law Institute is pleased to partner with the Dignity Rights Initiative at the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights on a series of webinars on Ethnocide and Dignity. You can watch Professor Jim May's conversation with Barrett Holmes Pitner here through June 27, 2022: <a href=\"https://wumail-my.sharepoint.com/personal/dlsmediaservices_widener_edu/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fdlsmediaservices%5Fwidener%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2FProf%20Erin%20Daly%2FDRI%2FThe%20Crime%20Without%20a%20Name%20Ethnocide%20and%20the%20Erasure%20of%20Culture%20in%20America%20A%20Conversation%20with%20Author%20Barrett%20Holmes%20Pitner%2Emp4&amp;parent=%2Fpersonal%2Fdlsmediaservices%5Fwidener%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2FProf%20Erin%20Daly%2FDRI&amp;ga=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Crime Without a Name Ethnocide and the Erasure of Culture in America A Conversation with Author Barrett Holmes Pitner</a> (.mp4) and you can watch the conversation between Barrett Holmes Pitner and Professor Erin Daly, moderated by Judge Bernice B. Donald, of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals: <a href=\"https://www.americanbar.org/groups/human_rights/dignity-rights-initiative/ethnocide-project/webinar-ethnocide-and-dignity-rights-lessons-for-today/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ethnocide and Dignity Rights: Lessons for Today</a>.</li>\r\n<li>Dignity and Criminal Law. Students in the Dignity Rights Clinic are working with people who are presently incarcerated on Dignity In the Criminal Legal System: A Handbook for Litigation, Advocacy, and Reform, in an ongoing, 2-year partnership with the Prisoner Legal Advocacy Network. The Clinic held a day-long conference, co-sponsored by Delaware Humanities, devoted to recognizing dignity in the criminal legal system in Delaware.</li>\r\n<li>Cases and Constitutions: The Dignity Law Institute is pleased to partner with Dignity Rights International on 2 new important resources for scholars and practitioners: the only database in the world dedicated to cases involving dignity rights. <a href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GebYSEqcECDla3Vt9Ohw5ivi1Tq9ywFgGwIfdHojg_w/edit#gid=51272552\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to see more than 200 new and important cases</a> from more than 30 jurisdictions at the regional, national, and subnational level on all topics from voting rights to gender identity to prisoners&rsquo; rights, and more! You can search by keyword, court, region and otherwise. Most cases include abstracts and links to the original case. Please contact us to add more cases to the Library. The Case Library complements our updated <a href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qTzxpkXyvnE3PTpj7PD8YwRF1IEsIQhzGMBNd3eWvxg/edit#gid=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dignity Constitutions Database</a>, providing the text of all constitutions protecting dignity: we&rsquo;ve found 613 different provisions in 173 constitutions!</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n<div style=\"background-color: #80b7ea; border-style: solid; padding: 5px;\">\r\n<p>The American Bar Association unanimously adopted a resolution affirming &ldquo;that human dignity &mdash; the inherent, equal, and inalienable worth of every person &mdash; is foundational to a just rule of law&rdquo; and urging &ldquo;governments to ensure that &lsquo;dignity rights&rsquo; &ndash; the principle that human dignity is fundamental to all areas of law and policy &mdash; be reflected in the exercise of their legislative, executive, and judicial functions.&rdquo;</p>\r\n<p>The Report supporting the Resolution was developed as a project of the Dignity Rights Project Practicum and draws on the work of Erin Daly, Dignity Rights:&nbsp; Courts, Constitutions, and the Worth of the Human Person (Penn 2013); Erin Daly &amp; James R. May, A Dignity Rights Primer, <a href=\"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3252694\">https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3252694</a> and the work of Sara E. Evans &rsquo;19. The Resolution was sponsored by the ABA Center for Human Rights.</p>\r\n<p>The resolution will have the immediate effect of strengthening the ABA&rsquo;s work in several ways. First, it will ensure that the ABA is on solid policy ground when it condemns practices, such as torture, humiliation and invidious discrimination. Second, it will provide support for ABA activities that are designed to advance human dignity, policies and practices that promote rule of law, democratic and political rights, and other civil rights. Third, it will provide a vocabulary for defending liberty and pursuing justice.&nbsp; Fourth, it will serve as a unifying principal to reflect what matters most to Association: &ldquo;Defending liberty and pursuing justice.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p>The Dignity Rights Project is proud to have partnered with the ABA Center for Human Rights in support of this Resolution.</p>\r\n</div>\r\n<div style=\"border-style: solid; padding: 5px;\">\r\n<p>\"As constitutions explicitly protect human dignity, and courts [give it] meaning, people around the world increasingly develop a feeling of dignity &ndash; an internalized awareness of their own worth and of the power it carries.\"</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">&ndash; Erin Daly, <em>Dignity Rights: Courts, Constitutions, and </em><br /><em>the Worth of the Human Person</em> (Penn Press 2012, 2020).</p>\r\n</div>\r\n<h3>About Dignity Rights</h3>\r\n<p>The Dignity Rights Institute works with partners locally and around the world to advance knowledge and capacity-building around the right to human dignity.</p>\r\n<p>Recent projects include:</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Dignity Rights <strong>Handbooks</strong> for Judges and Civil Society Organizations</li>\r\n<li><strong>Petition</strong> to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission on behalf of children in Haiti</li>\r\n<li>Dignity-based <strong>proposals</strong> to reform indigenous constitutions.</li>\r\n<li><strong>Submission to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights on the dignity rights of children in the face of climate change.</strong></li>\r\n<li><strong>White papers</strong> on environmental injustice, educational injustice, discrimination, and the dignity rights of vulnerable and marginalized communities around the world.</li>\r\n<li><strong>Reform proposals</strong> to improve conditions for people who are or have been incarcerated in Delaware.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p><strong>This year</strong>, students are working with the Prisoner Legal Advocacy Network to develop a Handbook for Dignity in the Criminal Justice System aimed at jailhouse lawyers, and other advocates, reformers, and policy makers.</p>\r\n<h3>Who We Are</h3>\r\n<p><strong>Erin Daly</strong> is Professor of Law, Widener University Delaware Law School (USA), and Vice President, Institutional Development, UNIFA (Universit&eacute; de la Fondation Aristide) in Haiti. She is the author of&nbsp;<a href=\"http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15052.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Dignity Rights: Courts, Constitutions, and the Worth of the Human Person</em></a><em>&nbsp;(Penn Constitution and Democracy Series</em>)&nbsp;and the co-author of&nbsp;<em>Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground</em>&nbsp;(Penn Series on Human Rights). She also directs the <a href=\"http://gnhre.org/\">Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment.</a> She was interim dean of the Law School 2013-2015.The Dignity Rights Project is co-directed by <a href=\"ipl://20//WyIyOSJd////\">Erin Daly</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"ipl://20//WyIxMjIiXQ==////\">James R. May</a>.</p>\r\n<div style=\"float: left; width: 33%; padding: 5px;\"><img src=\"irl://3299//\" alt=\"dignity rights book collage\" width=\"95%\" /></div>\r\n<p><strong>James R. May</strong> is Distinguished Professor of Law, Widener University Delaware Law School (USA). He is the author or co-author and editor or co-editor of 10 books and more than 100 articles and chapters, including&nbsp;<em>Standards of Environmental Rights&nbsp;</em>(Cambridge University Press),&nbsp;<em>Principles of Constitutional Environmental Law</em>&nbsp;(American Bar Association) and co-editor of&nbsp;<em>Shale Gas and the Future of Energy</em>&nbsp;(Edward Elgar). May has been inducted into Phi Kappa Phi and the American College of Environmental Lawyers. His work focuses on comparative environmental constitutionalism and dignity rights.</p>\r\n<p>Together, they have written and edited numerous books including:</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: INDIVISIBILITY, DIGNITY, AND LEGALITY, part of Encyclopedia of Environmental Law (forthcoming Edward Elgar Press 2019)</li>\r\n<li>IMPLEMENTING ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTITUTIONALISM (Cambridge University Press 2018)</li>\r\n<li>NEW FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTITUTIONALISM, (United Nations Environment 2017)</li>\r\n<li>JUDICIAL HANDBOOK ON ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTITUTIONALISM (United Nations Environment 3d ed. 2019)</li>\r\n<li>THE INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF CRITICAL WRITINGS ON LAW AND THE ENVIRONMENT: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTITUTIONALISM (Edward Elgar 2016, 2 vols.)</li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/global-environmental-constitutionalism/EC9A67A5448AE555015CAA6579104C24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTITUTIONALISM</a> (Cambridge University Press 2015)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>Jointly and separately, they have also written numerous articles and chapters on environmental law, comparative constitutional and international law, and transitional justice.</p>\r\n<p><strong>SELECTED PAST AND PRESENT PARTNERS of the Dignity Rights Institute (Project) at Delaware Law</strong></p>\r\n<p><strong>American Bar Association Center for Human Rights, Dignity Rights Initiative &nbsp;(current)<br /></strong>Business and Human Rights Resource Center <br />Center for Applied Legal Studies, University of Witswatersrand, South Africa <br />Chester Environmental Partnership, Chester, U.S. <br />Coming Clean, Delaware<br />Dignity Media, Nepal<br />Delaware Concerned Residents 4 Environmental Justice<br />Environmental Law Institute<br />Lenape Indian Tribe, Delaware, U.S.<br />Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti/Bureau des Avocats Internationales, Boston, U.S. and Port-au-Prince, Haiti<br />Institute of Romani Culture in Albania (IRCA)<br />Jigme Singjigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law, Bhutan<strong><br />Pakistan College of Law Dignity Rights Center (current)</strong><br /><strong>Pakistan Supreme Court (current) </strong>and High Court of Lahore, Pakistan<br /><strong>Prisoners Legal Advocacy Network (current)<br /></strong>PILnet, New York, U.S.<br />Refugee Legal Support &ndash; UK and Greece<br />SOMRAR &ndash; Human Rights in Somaliland<br />United Nations Environment (formerly UNEP)<br />United Nations International Organization for Migration<br />Universidad del Norte, Baranquilla, Colombia<br />Universit&eacute; de la Fondation Aristide, Haiti</p>\r\n<div style=\"width: 98%; background-color: #ffda00; border-style: solid; padding: 2px;\">\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 200%; color: #0062a3;\">&ldquo;Human dignity refers to the inherent humanness of each person. It is not an attribute or an interest to be protected or advanced, like liberty or equality or a house or free speech. Rather, human dignity is the essence of our being, without which we would not be human. Human dignity recognizes and reflects the equal worth of each and every member of the human family, regardless of gender, race, social or political status, talents, merit, or any other differentiator.&rdquo;</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right; font-size: 200%; color: #0062a3;\">-Erin Daly and James R. May,<br /><em>Dignity Rights: A Synopsis</em> (2017)</p>\r\n</div>\r\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"ipl://850//W10=////\">Read More About Dignity Rights</a></h3>",
    "callouts": [],
    "callouts_visual": [],
    "page_fact_display": "",
    "nav_callout_image": "",
    "nav_callout_overlay_color": ""
}