Direito em Movimento - Volume 19 - Número 1 - 1º semestre - 2021

90 Direito em Movimento, Rio de Janeiro, v. 19 - n. 1, p. 81-107, 1º sem. 2021 ARTIGOS person ‘born’ into ‘the human family.’ 19 It requires only birth – not the gran- ting or conferral of dignity by someone with greater dignity (which of course would be impossible given the equality of dignity).This is critically important for understanding dignity’s relationship to law: human dignity transcends positive law; it exists whether law or other conditions recognize it or not. It thus can stand as a measure of the justness of law or of a legal regime. Dig- nity also exists regardless of the conditions in which people live: pollution, poverty, discrimination and so on threaten the ability to live with dignity, but human dignity remains inviolable and inherent in the human person. Thus, fourth, dignity is universal; it applies to every ‘member of the human family’, wherever and whenever they live. This premise has special significance in the context of sustainability because it implies a principle of intergenerational equity: if those who are born after have the same quan- tum of dignity that we have, then they are entitled to the same (or better) living conditions, which necessitates an environmentally sustainable planet. Fifth, dignity instantiates rights. As we will see, the post-war burgeo- ning of international human rights law rests on the foundation of human dignity, as if to say that once we know dignity, we must assure that peo- ple have the right to claim all other rights that will protect their dignity. (ARENDT, 1949). In this sense, it is what animates rights-based approa- ches to well-being. And sixth, it represents a quality of life that every person is entitled to, which includes opportunities for human flourishing and the provision of a level of comfort that includes many of the specific goals that com- prise the SDGs. Despite its ancient roots in philosophical traditions, the idea of dig- nity is a fairly recent addition to the concept of global governance but, steeped in tradition, shaped by atrocity, and, formed by legal principles at every level and in all parts of the inhabited world, dignity is now reflected throughout the human rights enterprise including in the SDGs. While 19 Article 1 of the UDHR.