IGF 2020 WS #195 Protection or Participation? Child Rights in a New Normal

Information

Session

Thematic Track:

Topic(s):

Child Rights
CSEA
Information and disinformation

Organizer 1: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 2: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Speaker 1: Uri Sadeh, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 2: Bongani Dlamini, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 3: AMANDA THIRD, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group

Format:

Debate - Auditorium - 90 Min

Description:

The global COVID-19 crisis has brought into sharp focus many unresolved challenges relating to Children’s Rights in a digital context. The pandemic has caused schools, teachers, parents and children to scramble to find digital solutions to maintain a sense of normalcy in children’s lives – from supporting education through remote learning solutions to maintaining social contact with friends and families. Connectivity has also been critical in getting vital health and safety information about staying safe during the pandemic out to communities. Regrettably, connectivity has also been misused during this time: in its recent report, “Catching the Virus – cybercrime, disinformation and the COVID-19 pandemic”, Europol notes a rise in several types of cybercrime including the spread of fake news and an increased interest from sex offenders in online child sexual abuse material. And what are the additional and specific considerations for those young people who don’t have access to the internet at all at this time? The session will follow a debate format. The 4 speakers will be asked to outline the issues they have encountered relating to children and young people during the COVID-19 period. These could include, for example, the closing of educational settings, the role of information (and disinformation) in keeping children safe and healthy, as well as the impact of social isolation and social distancing requirements. Two of the speakers will talk about protection, and two about participation. Each will be asked to share observations and perspectives from their experience and area of expertise, and they will also be charged with proposing specific policy recommendations for all stakeholders relating to their respective areas. The speakers and participating audience members – both on site and online - will be given the opportunity to ask questions and debate the recommendations. The moderators will support the group in sifting through recommendations collectively and working towards understanding, compromise and collaborative solutions with a view to getting a shortlist of ‘next steps’ and policy recommendations for all IGF stakeholders – based on learnings and experiences from this unique period.

Issues:

The day-to-day realities of managing the COVID 19 pandemic have shone a bright light on a number of considerations that child rights stakeholders have been pushing for several years: digital inclusion, online safety, youth participation, and so on. That the need to address digital divide is more widely acknowledged and understood, for example, is extremely positive. At the same time, many parents and carers have climbed a steep learning curve on internet safety issues during this period. There is now an opportunity to move Child Rights up the policy agenda and we must use this. However, collectively, we must also get ahead of any ‘knee-jerk’ approaches which favour protection over participation, or vice versa, by creating solutions which seek to maximise opportunity whilst combatting potential risks.

Policy Question(s):

Subtheme 1: Impact of the Digital Divide on young people Topics: Education; Access to information; Freedom of Association; Freedom of Expression; Right to be heard; Social Development and Mental Health Policy questions: In a world where access to digital content and services is increasingly important, what are the specific impacts on young people who don’t have reliable internet access? Subtheme 2: Online risks Topics: Disinformation, cybersecurity, CSEA Policy questions: In a push to swiftly close the Digital Divide and get internet access to all young people – that is, to maximise opportunity - how can stakeholders simultaneously combat the potential risks connectivity will bring to young people?

Expected Outcomes:

UNICEF and GSMA will produce a short ‘discussion document’ style paper after the session, noting the concerns and opportunities raised, along with proposed policy recommendations and suggestions for collaborative Next Steps.

Relevance to Internet Governance: Child Rights are everyone’s business. By bringing together the collective experience and insights of the session speakers and the wider IGF stakeholder group, we can propose balanced and workable solutions to issues relating to children and connectivity that have been highlighted during the current global pandemic.

Relevance to Theme: The ‘trustworthiness’ of the internet is critical to children being able to reap maximum rewards from its potential to educate, connect, inform and entertain. Indeed, lack of trust in the internet is a key obstacle to participation for many young people as carers and institutions would rather remove access than face potential risk. If governments, private sector players, civil society and academia can work collaboratively towards developing practical solutions, policies and approaches which manage potential risks, then the internet can be better promoted as a tool to support access to fundamental rights.

Discussion Facilitation:

Participants (including those joining virtually) will be invited to contribute to the debate by asking questions to the panellists and offering their own views and experiences of these issues. As one of the aims of the session is to identify concrete examples of instances where children's rights to protection and participation are achieved in balance, collecting inputs from participants will be an important contribution to the session output.

Online Participation:

Usage of IGF Official Tool. Additional Tools proposed: Depending on the final setup of the event (in person or fully virtual) we may benefit from using https://www.sli.do/ or similar platforms to facilitate maximum participation.

SDGs:

GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions