Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere: ICLRS Cosponsors Conference at Christ Church College, Oxford

On August 3-4, 2018, ICLRS, along with The Oxford Journal of Law and Religion; The Religion, Law and International Relations Programme, Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture, Regents Park, Oxford; and the Programme for the Foundations of Law and Constitutional Government, University of Oxford Faculty of Law sponsored the conference “Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere: Founding Figures, Foundations, and the Uses of Human Dignity.”

The conference was organized in anticipation of the 70th Anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights coming up in December 2018. Speakers explored the ideas that motivated and illuminated the human rights project 70 years ago such as:

Can the idea of human dignity for everyone everywhere help with the implementation of human rights, through progressive measures?
Can it enable the vision of human rights to become a common standard of achievement for all people and nations?
Can the idea of human dignity help reconcile competing human rights claims, and resolve tensions with other important national and social interests?
Can the idea of human dignity provide insight into the nature of dignitary harms and identity politics in the midst of the conscience wars?

Friday morning’s sessions focused on the founding figures of the UDHR and their views on human dignity. The afternoon included presentations on religious and other philosophical views of human dignity. Saturday was composed of panel discussions of various uses of human dignity in practical contexts, as well as group discussions and reports on draft materials from the planned Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere.

The conference was opened by Ján Figel’, Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief Outside the EU. For more detail on the conference and a list of esteemed speakers, see the program.