The Right to Dress in International Law as a Right in itself and as a Parameter on the Ridge between Freedom of Expression and Prohibition of Discrimination

Abstract

The right to clothing is part of the panoply of human rights recognised by international law and is part of the broader right to an adequate standard of living guaranteed by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, in the transition from abstract normative predictions to the identification of the concrete content of this guarantee placed to protect the human person (both in its function of mere protection of the body from the elements, but also, and perhaps above all, to communicate and obtain information on their social position), it is as if its exact substance dissipates . This article proposes, first of all, a diachronic reconstruction of the right to clothing in international instruments and in the practice of the bodies in charge of monitoring them. Secondly, it focuses on how this right is closely connected to freedom of expression in relation to the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of the clothing worn - especially if indicative of belonging to a group, inter alia ethnic, religious, or social. It concludes with brief critical notes and reconstructive insights into these two delineations of the right to clothing. Keywords: Right to Clothing; Freedom of Expression; Discrimination