Human Dignity in Slovakia

The concept of human dignity has many facets in the Slovak legal order. As will be presented in this analysis, which surveys the usage of the term in the Constitution, legislation, and case law, one can hardly speak of a unique or a sole meaning of this legal concept. Notwithstanding the detailed characteristics of human dignity in different settings and situations, the motto echoes the aim protected by dignity: the prohibition of treatment that debases the dignity of a person as a human being. The protection of dignity is therefore fixed to an image of men as human beings and their uniqueness in contrast to nonliving elements of nature or other living creatures. The biological status and the idea of man himself, however, do not suffice to assign human dignity. At the same time mankind is also a bearer of certain moral values. Morality, freedom, and equality together constitute the form and the content of human dignity of individuals in Slovakia. Legal norms referring to human dignity seem to have an intermediary or indirect role in protecting persons as human beings in a great variety of situations, especially in vulnerable ones, in which a person is more likely to be treated in a debasing way. Apart from the explicit reference to dignity in the lawmaking process on constitutional and legislation levels, there also exists an implicit meaning of the term created by the courts’ case law and legal academia, respectively. Moreover, dignity is an objective value and a subjective right in the Slovak legal order.