Examining Refugees’ Personal Identity Rights in Light of ECHR Articles 3 and 8 and Relevant ECtHR Decisions

This article explores the concept of personal identity concerning refugees. The right to the individual identity of a refugee, as a person and as a refugee, is explained by considering the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) under articles 3 and 8. To illustrate this, it uses real-life examples from cases in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that focus on refugees. The first aim is to show how States may block refugees’ entrance or misuse their identities in asylum policies, often through illegal practices or inaction. Second, the goal is to lay out the complex relationship between a refugee’s identity and status within their destination country’s legal and societal systems.