ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL AS A COMPONENT OF THE FIFTH GENERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

This article examines the concept of individual economic sovereignty in the context of the fifth generation of human rights, taking into account the changes brought about by the spread of digitalisation and algorithmic governance. It argues that past human rights frameworks, especially second-generation socio-economic rights, do not adequately address how individuals participate in the modern economy. Digital platforms, algorithms, and data processing systems are reshaping markets, financial services, businesses, and jobs. The focus is on the transition from formal recognition of rights to their substantive enforcement. This article examines the complex legal status of individual economic sovereignty, including the management of income, assets, and labour potential, as well as the independent development and implementation of economic strategies. In addition, the economic value of intangible resources in the digital age is highlighted, especially the control of digital identity and personal data. Practicability is assessed. This category highlights the complexity of the system and reflects the shift from a state-based model of rights enforcement to one that includes private technological actors and infrastructure. This study draws its theoretical framework from human rights thinking that originated in the work of Karel Vasak and evolved in contemporary doctrinal developments, distinguishing between fourth and fifth-generation rights. Challenges associated with the platform economy include protecting labour rights, control over data as an economic resource, access to digital infrastructure, ensuring privacy as a requirement for autonomous economic behaviour, tackling algorithmic discrimination, and ensuring cross-border data processing and digital tax. The essence of economic sovereignty is carefully examined. This study shows that legal standards, technological system design, and the effectiveness of institutional protective measures are closely linked. In the case of Ukraine, the dissent argues that the protection of economic rights and freedoms is becoming more complex due to the digital economy, financial technologies, and increased integration into the European legal system. It concludes that the country’s legislation needs to be amended to account for algorithmic governance. This includes improving the protection of personal data, simplifying the process of challenging automated decisions, and creating special protections for those who engage in non-standard activities. Finally, it is important to note that the concept of personal economic sovereignty has theoretical and practical advantages that redefine human rights in the high technology era. The subject of this study is the economic sovereignty of the individual as a legal and theoretical construct within the fifth-generation human rights framework, including its content, structural elements, and implementation mechanisms in the context of digitalisation, platform-based economic relations, and algorithmic governance. Methodology. In this study, we investigated the digital economy elements of individual economic sovereignty using a multifaceted legal framework combining general scientific and legal methods. Within this theoretical model, both doctrinal and legal methods were used to examine the role of individual economic sovereignty. The fifth generation of human rights thinkers belongs to this generation. We were able to compare Ukrainian laws with those of other regions and countries regulating digital rights, personal data protection, algorithmic governance, and employment practices on platforms using similar legislative frameworks. The EU, the UN, the ILO, and the OSCE have responsibility for these regions and countries. We were able to assess the extent to which the Ukrainian legal system adapts to the challenges posed by the growth of the digital economy and identify relevant institutional differences. The analytical method allowed us to identify key elements of personal economic sovereignty, such as data ownership, financial independence, access to digital infrastructure, protection of labour rights in the platform economy, and algorithmic systems that ensure privacy and non-discrimination. Traditional socio-economic rights were integrated with a modern digital legal framework to create an integrated theoretical and legal model of economic sovereignty. An inductive approach was used to summarise current trends in digital platforms, algorithmic governance, and cross-border data processing, while a deductive approach was used to identify general trends in the transformation of human rights in the digital economy. The systems approach allows us to recognise that individual economic sovereignty is only one element of a complex legal and economic system in which state bodies, private digital platforms, and international regulatory mechanisms interact. In addition, a functional approach was used to examine how effectively legal norms ensure individuals’ actual economic autonomy and how effectively legal protection systems influence decision-making algorithms. Thus, important decisions were made on improving legal policy, including incorporating digital elements into human rights frameworks and adapting legal regulation to modern technological needs. This article aims to develop a comprehensive theoretical and legal understanding of economic sovereignty of the individual as a fifth-generation element of human rights, defining its content, structural dimensions and distinctiveness in the context of digitalisation, platform economy and algorithmic management, in the Ukrainian legal order, to ensure effectiveness. Implementing individual economic autonomy in the digital economy. The results. Given the changing nature of economic relations in the era of digitalisation, the platform economy, and algorithmic governance, research demonstrates the importance of personal economic sovereignty as a conceptually important component. Digital infrastructure and algorithmic solutions enhance access to economic opportunities, which means that traditional socioeconomic rights cannot fully guarantee genuine individual autonomy. According to proponents, economic sovereignty entails an improved legal position and the ability to independently implement economic strategies, control resources, and manage digital identity and personal data as valuable economic assets. Its key features are described as financial independence, privacy, non-discrimination in algorithmic systems, protection of platform economy workers’ rights, and access to digital infrastructure. While laws are important, economic sovereignty also depends on technological conditions, commercial platforms, and the effectiveness of legislative guarantees. Strengthening data protection, ensuring automated judicial decisions, and regulating platform labour procedures all demonstrate that Ukrainian legislation must adapt to the digital economy. Clearly, concepts of personal economic sovereignty are crucial to rethinking human rights in the digital age and developing a human-centred legal order. Conclusion. As human rights evolve in the digital economy, one significant legal concept is individual economic sovereignty. Data control, algorithmic governance, and access to digital infrastructure are some of the newer topics included in this material, which expands beyond more conventional socioeconomic rights. Recognising rights formally is only half the battle; technological systems and legal protection mechanisms must also be in working order for this sovereignty to be enforced. One way to make sense of the new kinds of digital reliance and freedom restrictions is to include individual economic sovereignty in the human rights discourse of the fifth generation. Here, existing legal institutions should be adapted to contemporary technological circumstances, and new legal regulations should strive to guarantee people's true economic autonomy.