Inclusivity in Identity
Combined Session
Thursday, May 08, 2025 15:35—16:35
Location: B 07-08
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Thursday, May 08, 2025 15:35—16:35
Location: B 07-08
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"Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law." That is article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And we know that recognition itself unlocks other rights: access to education, healthcare, travel, marriage, work, and economic participation all depend upon legal recognition.
And yet: in the United States, surveys indicate that up to 9% of citizens (21-million people) lack essential documentation to prove their citizenship and realize those rights. Why is that?
18 months ago, Elizabeth authored "Human-Centric Identity: for Government Officials" which explored different identity paradigms and how to build identity systems that sustained and promoted human rights. Since then, she has worked closely with tools and frameworks to assess identity implementations - including the OIX Guide to Trust Frameworks, the UNDP Safeguards for Digital Public Infrastructure, and the UNDP Framework for Legal Digital Identity.
In this session, Elizabeth presents an analysis of the US identity ecosystem using the UNDP frameworks and with crucial inputs from I.D. Ministry, a faith-based U.S. non-profit that supports individuals to obtain foundational identity documentation. It explores the extent to which the US identity paradigm delivers on Article 6 (and other human rights instruments) with consideration to privacy law, identity theft, and why so many people struggle to access foundational documents - as well as current considerations and what we can do about it.
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Millions in the UK struggle to prove who they are.
Without passports or driving licences, they face barriers to banking, housing, and even voting.
ID poverty is increasingly understood as a problem for refugees and people without a fixed address, but it has surprising effects on full-time carers, young people, older women, and anyone who changes their name, from newlyweds to trans people.
The cost of living crisis, financial exclusion, and new voter ID laws are making things worse, while AI-powered fraud is starting to push traditional ID verification to the brink.
This session explores how regulators and industry are responding; expanding trust frameworks, using a wider mix of source evidence to get more people through, and pioneering new methods like vouching with trusted referees.
The way we verify identity needs to change, and there’s a genuine opportunity to make it more usable and secure at the same time.
Key Takeaways:
- Hear about the real impact of ID poverty, backed up by stories from real users
- Understand the existential threat AI poses to the current ID verification paradigm
- Learn how to take action to make ID verification work for everyone, including your most vulnerable customers
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With over 1.1 billion people lacking formal identification, digital identity solutions are transforming access to essential services such as healthcare, finance, and governance.
This session explores the evolution of digital identity systems, from centralized models to decentralized frameworks like blockchain-based verifiable credentials.
We will analyze global case studies, including Aadhaar (India), e-Estonia, and SingPass (Singapore) while addressing the critical trade-offs between security, privacy, and usability. Additionally, we will discuss the challenges of credential interoperability and data sovereignty, exploring how decentralized identity frameworks can enable more secure and user-controlled digital identities across borders.
