ABSTRACT
The child's right to identity was given express recognition among the so called new rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. The absence from the European Convention of express provision for the right of the child to identity has had consequences for the manner in which the Commission and the Court have dealt with related issues. The Convention approach to the issue of paternity reflects the prevalence of the social and biological, over the legal reality in the recognition of family ties. The national courts had refused to order a blood test, which would have enabled the child's paternity to be established. Although the European Convention contains no explicit provisions on names, the right to a name is protected under the right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 insofar as it corresponds to a person's right to identity.
