Evolution of Legal Identity in International Human Rights. Theoretical Foundations, Legislative Implications, an Emerging Gaps.

This dissertation investigates whether contemporary legal identity frameworks within the sphere of international human rights law simultaneously perpetuate and contest colonial legacies as they relate to situations of statelessness in the context of indigenous collective rights. The theoretical and conceptual analysis outlines the power structures influencing contemporary human rights discourse and practice. Employing a deconstructive perspective, this investigation clarifies the evolution of human dignity within human rights and legal identity. By scrutinising the development of norms pertaining to legal identities and human dignity, this study illustrates how contemporary human rights frameworks endeavour to address Arendt's paradox by establishing rights protections that exceed the confines of citizenship and state-centred execution, particularly in resource-limited settings. The phenomenon of ‘erasure’ in Slovenia serves as a symptom of coloniality at secession, functioning as systematic administrative violence within hidden segregationist strategies in the process of nation-building. An illustration of how hidden 'colonial' logics of population management persist within modern citizenship regimes, particularly at pivotal moments of state formation and transition; this case study elucidates the enduring influence of colonial legacies on the formation of contemporary citizenship regimes through the systematisation of xenophobia within ‘Western European’ migration controls. The Case of the Expelled Dominicans and Haitians underscores the indispensable role of human rights law in shielding against arbitrary expulsion, with particular emphasis on protections for racially marginalised communities. The Expelled Haitians case elucidates the obligations incumbent upon states to include non-formal legal identity status and relevant criteria, preventing arbitrary or covert expulsion processes. The Ogiek case illuminates the complexities of legal identity within postcolonial human rights frameworks, highlighting both the transformative potential and the inherent limitations of formal forest conservation frameworks. This case study probes the intricate nexus between identity, territory, and rights, unmasking both the transformative prospects of decolonial recognition within politics and the necessity for genuine indigenous legal identity development as a means to transcend formal citizenship limitations. The case of Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha provides insights into the complexities of legal identity within postcolonial contexts, engaging in an exploration of the multifaceted legacy of colonialism. The genealogical analysis divulges that affectuating human dignity within human rights frameworks occurs through productive, meaningful engagements with those who are excluded by current systems. The research further reveals how novel biotechnologies intersect with these longstanding patterns of recognition and exclusion, presenting new challenges to legal identity while potentially entrenching prevailing hierarchies of human dignity. It explores the impact of colonial legacies on the articulation of legal identity in the context of human enhancement, genetic alteration, and the extensive intergenerational impacts of these scientific advancements on human identity, dignity, diversity, and integrity. Emerging digital identity technologies serve to bridge this paradox, yet offer both opportunities and challenges for the decolonisation of legal identities.