Human Dignity in the Netherlands Jan-Peter Loof Abstract This contribution contains an overview of the role of the concept of human dignity in the Dutch constitutional system. The role is a very limited one, mainly due to the rather sober constitutional culture and tradition in the Netherlands. The Constitution does not contain any reference to human dignity, nor do the Neth- erlands have a system of constitutional review of Acts of Parliament by the judiciary. Sometimes, the idea of human dignity does play a role in legal debates in Parliament or in court decisions. In most cases, this is the result of the application of international and European human rights standards and the taking into consideration of interpretations given by bodies like the European Court of Human Rights. However, there are some eye-catching judgements in which Dutch courts have taken some extra steps in considering human dignity. Keywords Constitutional law • Constitutional tradition • Human dignity • Human rights • Soberness • The Netherlands Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................... 2 2 Human Dignity in the Constitution of the Netherlands ...................................... 2 2.1 No Constitutional Provisions Referring to Human Dignity ........................... 2 2.2 A “Sober” Constitutional Tradition .................................................... 3 2.3 No Constitutional Review of Acts of Parliament ...................................... 6 2.4 Direct Applicability of International Law Standards in the Dutch Legal System .... 6 2.5 Interim Conclusion ..................................................................... 8 3 Recent Proposals to Incorporate Human Dignity in the Netherlands’ Constitution ........ 8 3.1 Proposal by the Royal Commission for the Constitution in 2010 ..................... 8 J.-P. Loof (*) Faculty of Law, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands e-mail: j.p.loof@law.leidenuniv.nl # Springer International Publishing AG 2017 P. Becchi, K. Mathis (eds.), Handbook of Human Dignity in Europe, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27830-8_30-1 1