Background
5Rights Foundation Steering Committee:
- Baroness Beeban Kidron OBE, 5Rights Foundation
- Professor Sonia Livingstone OBE, LSE
- Ms. Jutta Croll, Digital Opportunities Foundation
- Ms. Gerison Lansdown, Independent Children's Rights Consultant
- Professor Amanda Third, Western Sydney University
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1989. With 196 signatories, it is the most ratified treaty in history. Its more than 40 articles enshrine the obligations of nation-states to recognize and implement children's rights. 1989 was also the year the communication system we now know as the World Wide Web was invented. At that time, it was unimaginable that the digital world would transform every aspect of society, including childhood.
Today, almost half the world's population is online, including more than one billion children. The impact of the digital world on children's access to information and government services, their privacy and safety, and their opportunities for participation cannot be overstated.
In early 2018, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child decided to prepare a General Comment outlining the significance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child for the digital world. The 5Rights Foundation was appointed by the Committee to advise on this issue.
5Rights formed an expert steering group that developed the draft General Comment through several iterations. This work was led by Professor Sonia Livingstone, OBE, of the London School of Economics and Political Science, taking into account input from multiple consultations with nation-states, experts in both digital technology and children's rights, and other interested stakeholders. These stakeholders include children themselves, and throughout the process, efforts were made to involve children from all parts of the world to ensure that their perspectives were reflected in both the content and form of the General Comment.
Summary
Approximately 709 children and young people aged nine to 22 in 27 countries across six continents were surveyed to gather their views on the "General Comment on the Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment." They provided insights into how digital technologies affect their rights and what measures they would like to see to protect them.
Particularly important to children are:
- Affordable, accessible, and reliable access to devices and networks
- Age-appropriate content in the child's own language
- Measures to prevent and address discriminatory or aggressive behavior
- Trustworthy and truthful information, including less inappropriate content and transparent information from the online services themselves
- Greater privacy, especially less surveillance by commercial companies and parents
- Improved understanding and media literacy for parents
- Services that protect against perpetrators and abuse
- Access to confidential and trustworthy sources of health information
Young people are passionate about participating in the digital world. But they are frustrated by its shortcomings and believe the internet should better meet their needs and desires.
Pakistan, boy, 13: Digital technology plays a role because with its help... we can connect with the world and create an identity within it.
Method
Using a workshop concept developed by the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University, partner organizations were identified to conduct three- to five-hour on-site workshops with children in their local communities. The structure of this report follows the key topics the children most enjoyed discussing in the workshops.
The children participated in a range of individual and group activities, including answering short questions, creative writing, drawing, cut-and-paste, scenario-based activities, and group discussions. The methodology yielded rich, qualitative data on the children's perceptions and experiences regarding their rights in the digital environment. It was important to design the workshops in a way that allowed the children to contribute their perspectives in a guided process, enabling them to ask questions, discuss, and reflect on their own online lives, thus documenting their experiences and views.
A total of 69 workshops were held in 19 languages. Twelve of the 69 workshops were conducted in English and 15 in Arabic. 52% of participants identified as female, 40% as male, and 8% did not provide information about their gender.
Key topics:
- Access to the Internet as a right
- Information
- Expression, identity, and culture
- Leisure and play
- Privacy
- The role of parents
- Protection
- Health