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Liverpool Law Rev (2012) 33:281300 DOI 10.1007/s10991-012-9121-9
Human Dignity in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and its Interpretation Before the European Court of Justice
Jackie Jones
Published online: 29 December 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
Abstract This article argues that the EU Charters dignity provisions must be given a specic, expansive European meaning that underpins the importance the EU places on fundamental rights protection as a principle EU value. To this end, the article examines the EU Charter provisions on dignity and critically analyses the case law before the EU Charter had full legal effect and after it did. It nishes with looking at three areas in which the potential for an expansive interpretation of dignity could help bring the EU closer to its people and fully respect and protect dignity: asylum, criminal justice and sexual orientation.
Keywords Human dignity EU Charter CJEU Asylum Equality
Judicial interpretation
Introduction
Two years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter) has become a point of reference commonly used in the development of EU policies
The Commission not only guarantees that its proposals are compatible with the Charter, it also ensures that the Charter is respected when Member States implement EU law.1
In 2004 I argued that the European Court of Justice (CJEU) should take the opportunity to imbue the dignity provisions within the Union Charter of
J. Jones (&)
Bristol Law School, UWE, Bristol, UK e-mail: [email protected]
1 EU Commission (2012).
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Fundamental Rights (EU Charter)2 with a particular European understanding that brings to the fore the social responsibility of the EU and social rights of individuals and groups, rather than focussing exclusively on the economic union (Jones 2004). At no other time in the EUs history has this been truer than right now and particularly important in light of the statements above. I say this in the middle of the Euro crises. If the EU can spend literally billions propping up nancial institutions and governments within the Euro-zone, it can do the same for its citizens. The two are not the same. We have seen a long history of subsidies, bailouts and emphasis on economic aspects of the...