Abstract

Since it was established in 1959, The European Court of Human Rights has been the authority to which all questions concerning the interpretation and application of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms are referred. Although it has handed down more than 18,000 judgements, the legal instrument of which it is the authentic interpreter does not make the slightest reference to dignity so it has not taken much of a formal interest in the principle of dignity. Yet case law of the ECHR includes implicit reference to dignity. This is a troubling paradox that deserves some explanation.