Propaganda and manipulation have long been employed to influence and shape individuals’ thoughts and identities. In the advent of the digital era, these techniques have become more sophisticated and invasive, and are utilized to further various causes. This article investigates the extent to which international human rights law affords protection against manipulation techniques such as microtargeting and behavioral reading, which can negatively impact individuals’ mental health and autonomy by threatening their right to construct their own identity. The right to freedom of thought in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 18), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 18), and the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 9) offers absolute protection to individuals’ inner selves and covers the protection against manipulation on paper. However, in practice, the right has not received much attention and has not reached its full potential due to its abstract and ambiguous nature. This Article analyzes the preparatory works of these human rights law instruments, with a particular focus on the right to freedom of thought, to clarify its origins and the intention behind its creation. The Article contends that the historical origins of the right do not provide sufficient answers to the current issue and contribute to the ineffective application of the right against emerging manipulative practices. The Article also proposes potential ways to clarify and strengthen the legal framework related to the right to freedom of thought.

中文翻译：

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建构自我和身份的权利：面对非法心灵干扰，现行人权法框架在实践中存在不足

宣传和操纵长期以来一直被用来影响和塑造个人的思想和身份。随着数字时代的到来，这些技术变得更加复杂和更具侵入性，并被用来推动各种事业。本文调查了国际人权法在多大程度上提供了针对微目标定位和行为解读等操纵技术的保护，这些技术可能会威胁到个人构建自己身份的权利，从而对个人的心理健康和自主权产生负面影响。 《世界人权宣言》（第十八条）、《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》（第十八条）和《欧洲人权公约》（第九条）中的思想自由权为个人的内在自我提供了绝对的保护并涵盖了防止纸质操纵的保护。但在实践中，由于其抽象性和模糊性，该权利并未受到足够的重视，也没有充分发挥其潜力。本文分析了这些人权法律文书的准备工作，特别关注思想自由权，以阐明其起源及其制定的意图。该条认为，该权利的历史渊源并没有为当前问题提供充分的答案，并且导致该权利无法有效适用以应对新出现的操纵行为。该条还提出了澄清和加强与思想自由权相关的法律框架的潜在方法。