De betekenis van identiteitsrechten voor kinderen in het Nederlandse familierecht : Een onderzoek naar de artikelen 8 IVRK en 8 EVRM

Abstract

Identity and its development are important for children, but what rights do children have in this regard? This dissertation focuses on two international identity rights: Article 8 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (the right to preserve identity as a children’s right) and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to identity as a human right). The main question is the (potential) meaning of these rights for children, in particular for Dutch family law. Using a legal-dogmatic research method, including a study of various documents of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and a large-scale case law study on ECtHR jurisprudence, this book improves our understanding of the meaning of these identity rights and their cohesion and interaction. A thorough analysis of the collected data reveals the broad scope and relevance of the rights in question, as well as a large space for development. In conclusion, it appears that the content of the rights is clearly not set in stone which allows for a dynamic interpretation and their evolution over time, yet identity rights for children are still in their infancy. This dissertation also shows that identity rights for children play a role in in Dutch family law, but could and should be applied more often, including the fields of parentage and adoption, name law and gender registration, youth law, custody and access and so on. Above all, it becomes clear that identity rights deserve a spot on the academic agenda.