DIGITAL ANNEXATION AND FIDUCIARY TRUST: ALGORITHMIC PERSECUTION AND SAFEGUARDING OF IDENTITY IN CONFLICT ZONES

Abstract

State succession in the present world is not a change of territory only, but a “digital annexation” of the identity of the population. The disintegration of the Republic of Artsakh in 2023 led to a significant problem in international law concerning the transition of digital infrastructure to Azerbaijan and the change of administrative data into a tool of systemic exclusion, which is the focus of this article. Initially considering state archives as “war trophies, “ the paper suggests that a successor state assumes a permanent, fiduciary obligation to safeguard the “Digital Self” of the population being taken over. This is a direct consequence of how fundamental data protection is for the 21st century; in a digitalized world, personal data is the basis for “the right to have rights.” Here, data protection is not only about privacy but also about physical safety, legal personhood, and the prevention of “Digital erasure.” When people cannot show who they are, they are unable to own property or seek legal remedy and, in the eyes of the international community, become “legal ghosts.” The report unveils a widespread betrayal of the trust through the seizure of Armenian civil registries, containing 120,000 refugee records, that were found in Azerbaijan's monitoring platform (MIRAS). This platform means “Digital Refoulement” - deliberately using old databases for screening, identifying, and even excluding people at checkpoints, such as Hakari Bridge, based on past or military records. The successor states use “Algorithmic Persecution” to automatically deny entry, resulting in the denial of the physical Right of Return, which is the very foundation of the ICJ ruling. Moreover, the paper discusses “Digital Erasure” - the intentional removal of Armenian names from worldwide digital maps - as the ultimate stage of ethnic cleansing, which mentally erases the displaced from the world's collective memory. To address this issue, the paper suggests an extreme reform of the international digital governance framework, particularly through the creation of a dedicated United Nations body for data protection in aggressive and war-torn areas. These organizations would take on the role of neutral international watchdogs and help confirm that the registries are accurate and that the confidentiality of the information is protected. As a result, digital information could be recognized legally at the same level as physical records. The article concludes by emphasizing that protecting digital archives is a matter of human rights; failing that, the history of a community is transformed into a tool for its permanent erasure both legally and socially.