A Guide to Litigating Identity Systems
RIGHTS TO LIBERTY AND MOVEMENT
64. Identity systems impact the right to liberty.
a) The Jamaican Supreme Court holds that the right to liberty includes the
right to choose whether or not to share personal information and that the
requirement under the identity system’s legislation to compulsorily part
with biographical and biometric information without having the right to
opt out is likely to violate Article 13(3)(a) of the Jamaican Charter of
Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which protects “the right to life, liberty
and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof
except in the execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal
offence of which the person has been convicted.”272
b) The Jamaican Supreme Court held that the right to physical liberty is
affected due to the freedom of movement being constrained by requiring
an individual to go to a specific place at a specific time to give the
information mandated under the legislation.273
c) The dissent of the Indian Supreme Court holds that liberty involves not
only a negative component but also a positive component that requires
states to take positive measures to protect individual rights by creating a
data protection regime and autonomous regulatory frameworks that give
individuals access to remedies against both state and non-state
actors.274
272 Julian J. Robinson, ¶ 349.
273 Julian J. Robinson, ¶ 247(B)(19), 361.
274 Aadhaar Judgment, ¶ 169 of dissent.
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