I. Ziemele speaks about human dignity in technology driven world at the celebration in honour of the anniversary of the adoption of the Slovenian Constitution
On Thursday, 19 December President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele and Advisor to the President of the Constitutional Court Inguss Kalniņš paid an official visit to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia (hereafter – the Slovenian Constitutional Court) to participate in the celebrations marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of Republic of Slovenia (hereafter – the Slovenian Constitution). At the solemn hearing of the Slovenian Constitutional Court, Ineta Ziemele gave a keynote speech “Human Dignity in Technology Driven World: Role of Constitutional Courts”, highlighting the special duty of the constitutional courts to maintain, in the age of technologies, the values included in their national constitutions, of which human dignity holds a special place in the democratic world.
The solemn hearing of the Slovenian Constitutional Court was attended by representatives of all branches of power – the President of the Republic of Slovenia (hereafter – Slovenia) Borut Pahor, the Speaker of the National Assembly Dejan Židan, the President of the Constitutional Court Rajko Knez as well as the President of the Supreme Court Damijan Florjančič, ministers and other public officials.
At the beginning of her speech, Ineta Ziemele advanced the thesis that the 21st century had brought the awareness that modern technologies not only had opened the door for individuals and the society to new opportunities but also challenged our views of what constituted a democratic society. Modern technologies, in particular digital technologies, social portals and algorithm-based systems, provide to people information that they assume these people should know, creating “bubbles” of information and decreasing random accessibility and transparency of diverse information. Moreover, these technologies collect and analyse personal data, thus becoming aware of the most intimate details of a person’s private life. The new reality poses the question – how do we define human dignity?
Unfortunately, the development of appropriate legal regulation for the new challenges is time-consuming and demands a deep understanding of the subject to be regulated. Until the legislator adopts legal provisions that the society needs, constitutional courts must nevertheless apply the constitution and, through their rulings, must find solutions that are consistent with human dignity.
Ineta Ziemele concluded her speech with the remark that free nations were created by free people. Therefore the state must ensure that people are free, are able to engage in their creative self-expression without fear, to create new ideas and strengthen their society.
President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele giving a keynote speech at the solemn hearing of the Slovenian Constitutional Court marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. Photo: Tamino Petelinsek, Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia.
During her visit to Slovenia, Ineta Ziemele also met with the President of Slovenia Borut Pahor to discuss issues related to reinforcing the rule of law in the European Union.
This visit affirms the mutual respect and friendship between the Latvian and the Slovenian Constitutional Courts and serves as an excellent example of the judicial dialogue among European constitutional courts.
The programme of the visit is available here.