Legal identity is important in the context of society – citizenship, group belonging, ethnicity, membership. With identity often come rights. More rights, improved rights, better rights, better standing. But there is also the dark side – no identity can mean no rights, or at least, no access to rights.

It can be an administrative quirk or a deliberate policy of alienation. Think on the most basic level – no citizenship, no vote. An example is the current policies in the UK to deny (non-urgent medical treatment) to those who cannot show residency entitlement. Another example is asylum seekers who are not permitted to work until their claim is determined. And what about refugees who, once their claim is accepted, cannot work, but must rely on inadequate hand-outs?

Having a settled or established identity can mean no rights or no access to rights. The yellow star, the identity documents carried by black people in apartheid era South Africa, or the ethnic identification in Rwanda of Tutsis and Hutus are examples.

Identity is the umbrella term. In part, my interest is in individual identity, individual rights and responsibilities and limits that come with the concept of identity. And then we have state identity – sovereignty, right for its citizens, taxation, development, public services and goods, legal identity, the right to contract with private entities with other states. The two are not as far apart as they would initially seem.

Where legal identity leads to a recognition of rights, social, cultural, economic, or to an enhanced access of those rights, we should celebrate it. But we should not underestimate how easy it is, if we are not vigilant, for identity, for registration, for documentation to be used as, or to become a tool of division, discrimination and oppression.

The use of identity information must genuinely contribute to social inclusion rather than as a  policy, or a tool, to promote social exclusion. Identity Information must be used responsibly and ethically. Those implementing programs and projects that use, rely on or promote enhanced identity information must do so responsibly and ethically, promoting policies that truly aim to increase social inclusion for all.

In this blog, the main focus will be legal identity, but I will also touch on other subjects, such as the linkages between law and development, migration, citizenship, statelessness, human rights, minority rights, gender rights, marginalisation, state control, state responsibility and state sponsored violence as they impact on the issue of identity specifically.

I also want to use this blog as a key resource on the question of identity. As such I will be sharing some publicly available documents here that touch on the subject.  I am sure I am not alone in covering this topic, and I will be sure to highlight other blogs, or blogposts, that highlight similar issues.