A/HRC/58/54 identity, as this is only relevant for the legal personality, which is conferred through a State act (registration). 55. Naturally, the scope of application of the Convention is limited to persons under the age of 18 (art. 1). Despite this age limit, and considering the fact that this Convention has been ratified by 196 States, the recognition of the duty of States to respect individual identity may be considered universally accepted. It would be difficult to argue bona fide that the States recognize such an obligation towards human beings before they are 18 and disregard such right for adults. So the idea that a right to an individual identity that is not conferred by the State exists and that this identity has to be respected by the State appears to be consensual in the international community. 56. Further, and of direct concern to the present report, the Convention recognizes that: “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language” (art. 30). Even if article 30 does not specifically mention the word “identity”, it is clear that beyond the rights to a nationality, a name and family relations – as expressed in the wording of article 8 – children belonging to a minority also have, as part of their identity, the right to enjoy their own culture, religion and language in community with other members of their group. To strengthen this right to identity, article 8 (2) of the Convention requires that “where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity”. Beyond an obligation to respect, there is an obligation to protect, and failing to do so generates an obligation for the State to act. Therefore, this right to identity is not defined by the State (which is bound to respect it) but by the child’s membership in a group, a family at the narrowest and the minority group when the child belongs to a minority (as spelled out in article 30 of the Convention). This provides us with interesting information about the relationship between the identities of the person belonging to a minority and the minority group. 57. As we have seen, unfortunately, beyond the age of 18, positive international law does not explicitly recognize a right to individual identity.48 It is a fact that neither the Universal Declaration of Human Rights nor the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has a provision recognizing a right to identity. In contrast with the right to a legal personality, which is inherent to the logic of human rights, you cannot individually benefit from the right enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or any human rights treaty if you do not have the possibility to claim your right, for your own benefit, in front of public authorities or a judicial body; therefore, you need to be recognized as a person before the law. This is what is explicitly recognized in article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 16 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Legal recognition as a person is, however, not equivalent to a genuine right to identity. 58. Several regional human rights bodies have, however, recognized a right to an individual identity as a human right belonging to all. For example, in 2003, the European Court of Human Rights recognized “the applicant’s right to respect for her sexual self-determination as one of the aspects of her right to respect for her private life”,49 referring to “the applicant’s freedom to define herself as a female person, [as] one of the most basic essentials of self-determination”.50 In different circumstances, the Inter-American Juridical 48 49 50 12 Article 5 (1) of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities reads: “The Parties undertake to promote the conditions necessary for persons belonging to national minorities to maintain and develop their culture, and to preserve the essential elements of their identity, namely their religion, language, traditions and cultural heritage.” Even though there is a specific reference to persons belonging to national minorities, the way this provision is worded, which is close to article 1 of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, does not allow it to be equated with the right to identity for persons belonging to a minority. European Court of Human Rights, Van Kück v. Germany, Application No. 35968/97, Judgment, 12 June 2003, para. 78. Ibid., para. 73. GE.25-00509