Confidential data protection in central Asia to ensure human rights and public security
Abstract
Confidential data protection in Central Asia presses in a time when digital governance expands so rapidly and implies so many things for public security and human rights. Although international research often stresses European experiences, Central Asia remains underexplored, also this creates a regionalnovelty that this article seeks to address. A document analysis approach that reviews national laws, academic literature, also international instruments was applied in the study. Analysis of Central Asian legal systems regarding confidential personal dataplus reflection on compatibility with international and European standards especially European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)jurisprudence occurred. Interpretive principles developed for applying Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights inform the methodology. These principles do stress legality and proportionality also they do evolve safeguards as they balance state security and individual privacy. Central Asian legislation lacks in precise definitions of sensitive data. Furthermore, itprovides weak mechanisms for cross-border protection as well as fragmented enforcement. In contrast, ECHR jurisprudence coherently does interpret, even offering up tools that do protect human rights while still legitimately concerning public security. In order for Central Asia to reconcile public security with human rights, it must define its laws in a harmonious way, clarify processing conditions in an extraordinary way, and adopt strong technical and organizational safeguards that are aligning with international standards.