1. Key Policy Questions and related issues:
1. What can policymakers learn about protecting children’s rights from the extreme circumstances brought about by the global pandemic?
2. How must we balance considerations relating to protection and participation?
3. What more needs to be done to protect children’s wide-ranging privacy needs (from the right to privacy for victims of online CSAM, to personal privacy in terms of sharing their information, to commercial entities profiting from their data in ways that are not transparent and do not seem fair to them) and meet their expectations from us as key stakeholders?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed:
Speakers covered:
• Experience of international law enforcement in terms of child sexual abuse and exploitation during the global COVID19 response, in particular ‘lockdown’ – summarizing findings from the INTERPOL’s September report.
• Frontline experience from Sawa, the Palestinian child helpline, which supported an increased number of children contacting them during lockdown about physical and sexual abuse at home, anxiety about economic fallout issues (not enough money for food, unable to afford connectivity to continue lessons), and suicidal ideation.
• Research findings on children’s experience of COVID, including access to education and social groups; reflections on some of the issues facing these and the fact that in our rush to respond to a crisis, children’s views on how their online spaces has, again, been overlooked.
• Experience of a young leader and UNICEF volunteer from South Africa, who explained how young people who have connectivity have been able to continue to enjoy many of their fundamental rights by moving them into the digital world (for example, online learning, virtual workshops, and mentoring taking place via WhatsApp) – but underscored that the less privileged young people, without connectivity, missed out and became further disadvantaged.
• Younger children’s online lives: Children are increasingly online – and younger children who were not previously connected came online during lockdown, and are now likely to remain connected, even if prior to the pandemic they would perhaps not have been allowed so young – Uri Sadeh.
10. Voluntary Commitment:
- Ohaila Shomar – voluntary community initiative to improve access to learning.
- Uri Sadeh – commit to continuing daily struggle to meet the protection needs through the continuous work of Interpol’s crimes against children unit.
- Amanda Third – explore the question of how to realize children’s participation rights under the conditions of physical distancing.
- Natasha Jackson – to listen to youth voices within GSMA, encouraging our leaders to get young voices on the agenda at our events and encourage business leaders to hear directly from young voices.
- Bongani Dlamini – 1) continue to share and create stories to raise awareness online; 2) continue having more roadshows around the country to promote safe use of the internet directly with children; 3) volunteer my time to organizations like GSMA and UNICEF to share young people’s experiences.