Editing Dignity (section)

== Violations ==

=== Categories ===
Human dignity can be violated in multiple ways.  The main categories of violations are:<ref name=":0">{{cite book | title=Humiliation, Degradation, Dehumanization: Human Dignity Violated | isbn=9789048196616 |editor=Paulus Kaufmann |editor2=Hannes Kuch |editor3=Christian Neuhäuser |editor4=Elaine Webster | publisher=Springer | date=2010-10-07 }} <!-- Entire book, but especially pages 51–52, 151, 168 --></ref>
; [[Humiliation]]: Violations of human dignity in terms of humiliation refer to acts that humiliate or diminish the self-worth of a person or a group. Acts of humiliation are context dependent but we normally have an intuitive understanding where such a violation occurs. As Schachter noted, "it has been generally assumed that a violation of human dignity can be recognized even if the abstract term cannot be defined. 'I know it when I see it even if I cannot tell you what it is{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schachter|first1=Oskar|title=Human dignity as a normative concept|journal=American Journal of International Law|date=1983|volume=77|issue=4|page=849|doi=10.2307/2202536|jstor=2202536|doi-access=free}}</ref> More generally, etymology of the word "humiliation" has a universal characteristic in the sense that in all languages the word involves "downward spatial orientation" in which "something or someone is pushed down and forcefully held there".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Linder|first1=Evelin|title=Making enemies: Humiliation and international conflict|date=2006|publisher=Praeger Security International|location=Westport, CT|page=5}}</ref> This approach is common in judicial decisions where judges refer to violations of human dignity as injuries to people's self-worth or their self-esteem.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Shultziner|first1=Doron|last2=Rabinovici|first2=Itai|title=Human Dignity, Self-Worth and Humiliation: A Comparative Legal–Psychological Approach|journal=Psychology, Public Policy, and Law|date=2012|volume=18|issue=1|pages=105|doi=10.1037/a0024585}}</ref>
; Instrumentalization or [[objectification]]: This aspect refers to treating a person as an instrument or as means to achieve some other goal. This approach builds on [[Immanuel Kant]]'s moral imperative stipulating that we should treat people as ends or goals in themselves, namely as having ultimate moral worth which should not be instrumentalized.  
; Degradation: Violations of human dignity as degradation refer to acts that degrade the value of human beings. These are acts that, even if done by consent, convey a message that diminishes the importance or value of all human beings. They consist of practices and acts that modern society generally considers unacceptable for human beings, regardless of whether subjective humiliation is involved, such as selling oneself to [[slavery]], or when a state authority deliberately puts prisoners in inhuman living conditions. 
; [[Dehumanization]]: These are acts that strip a person or a group of their human characteristics. It may involve describing or treating them as animals or as a lower type of human beings. This has occurred in [[genocide]]s such as the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] and in [[Rwanda]] where the minority were compared to insects.

=== Examples ===
Some of the practices that violate human dignity include [[torture]], [[rape]], [[social exclusion]], [[labor exploitation]], [[bonded labor]], and [[slavery]].<ref name=":0" />  <!-- If you add something to this list, please also add a source for it. -->

Both absolute and relative poverty are violations of human dignity, although they also have other significant dimensions, such as [[Social justice|social injustice]].<ref name=":0" />  [[Absolute poverty]] is associated with overt exploitation and connected to humiliation (for example, being forced to eat food from other people's garbage), but being dependent upon others to stay alive is a violation of dignity even in the absence of more direct violations. [[Relative poverty]], on the other hand, is a violation because the cumulative experience of not being able to afford the same clothes, entertainment, social events, education, or other features of typical life in that society results in subtle humiliation; social rejection; marginalization; and consequently, a diminished self-respect.

Another example of violation of human dignity, especially for women in developing countries, is lack of [[sanitation]]. Having no access to [[toilet]]s leaves currently about 1 billion people of the world with no choice other than to [[open defecation|defecate in the open]], which has been declared by the [[Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations|Deputy Secretary-General]] of the United Nations as an affront to personal dignity.<ref>JMP (2014). [http://www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2036 Progress on drinking water and sanitation, 2014 Update] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402115029/http://www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2036 |date=2015-04-02 }}. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), {{ISBN|978 92 4 150724 0}}, page 11</ref> Human dignity is also violated by the practice of employing people in India for "[[manual scavenging]]" of [[human excreta]] from unsanitary toilets{{snd}}usually by people of a lower [[caste]], and more often by women than men.<ref name="HRW2014">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/india0814_ForUpload_0.pdf|title=Cleaning Human Waste: "manual scavenging", Caste and Discrimination in India|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=23 June 2015|date=2014}}</ref> [[Female genital mutilation]] (FGM) has been considered by [[Pope Francis|Pope Francis I]] to be an example of a practice that violates human dignity.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pullella |first=Philip |date=2022-02-06 |title=Pope says female genital mutilation affronts dignity, must end |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-says-female-genital-mutilation-affronts-dignity-must-end-2022-02-06/ |access-date=2022-10-08}}</ref>

The movie ''[[The Magic Christian (film)|The Magic Christian]]'' depicts a wealthy man ([[Peter Sellers]]) and his son ([[Ringo Starr]]) who test the limits of dignity by forcing people to perform self-degrading acts for money.  The ''[[The Simpsons|Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Homer vs. Dignity]]" has a similar plot.