Introduction

Emerging social awareness for the dignity of persons with disabilities or for gender inequalities are examples of the transformation of Human Rights from the bottom up, which demonstrate that "dignity" as the whole Human Rights corpus-is a work in progress. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is based on the conviction that dignity, freedom and the rule of Human Rights law are social realizations of claims made by the individual woman, man and queer. The social choice to claim one's freedom and rights can be considered the dignity agency of the individual. The preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) proclaims the intention of securing universal and effective recognition and observance of all Human Rights. It is the speech-acts of individual women, men and queer who claim, realize and protect Human Rights, be they private or public persons.