United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund -

Study Guide

Agenda - Advancing Children's right in the digital age with

emphasis on quality free education via digital platforms

Introduction

Children have long been recognized as a vulnerable group in society in need of special
protection and care due to their age and lack of maturity making them often unable to
exercise their own agency. Reflecting this, the international community adopted the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989. The adoption of the CRC was a major
step for children signifying the first global agreement on the importance of child protection.
The CRC set out a new vision of the child as a full member of his or her community and
prioritized the development of the child free from want, neglect, and abuse. The United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is the only United Nations (UN) body named in the CRC
as a source of expertise, and its primary mission is to advance the rights of children
everywhere. To achieve this, it supports the work of the Committee on the Rights of the
Child, advocates for children’s rights, and supports countries in implementing the provisions
of the CRC and its Optional Protocols.

Since the adoption of the CRC, children’s lives have dramatically changed due to the
influence of technology. However, exactly how children’s lives have been affected depends
on where children live. For example, during the 2008 earthquake in China, Twitter was an
important source of information for disaster relief operations, while in Nigeria and Uganda,
information and communication technologies (ICTs) are being used for SMS-based birth
registration systems. For this reason, there is a growing need for the international community
to address the changing needs of children. The international community, including UNICEF,
should work to ensure that the provisions of the CRC envisioned 16 years ago can be
advanced and protected in a digital age, looking specifically at how children’s rights can be
advanced through ICTs, how more children can access digital technology, and how to
protect children’s rights online. In doing so, it is important to maintain a balance between
providing children with the full advantage of the opportunities that ICTs afford, while also
protecting them from the risks that digital technology presents.

International and Regional Framework

The international and regional framework of ICTs and children encompasses measures
taken to both mitigate harm suffered by children in the digital space, as well as a call for
increased access to, and usage of ICTs for their development. The main international
agreement pertaining to children, and which all other agreements build upon, is the
aforementioned CRC. This document establishes the main principles that the international
community agreed to regarding the human rights of children, including the values of equality,
dignity, and furthering the best interests of the child in all matters concerning him or her. The
CRC specially makes reference to ICTs in Article 17, which highlights the importance of
children to be able to gain information relevant to their well-being from a variety of sources,
including the Internet. In addition to this core document, many other documents
address the importance of ICTs in development and set goals for increasing access to ICTs.

The World Programme of Action for Youth (2010) underlines the role ICTs play in the
development of young people, specifically in enhancing education, providing connectedness
for children in remote areas, and helping them develop the necessary skills for the labor
market. It lays out a five-step proposal for action that will allow for the full realization of the
benefits that ICTs have to offer. This proposal includes increasing the accessibility of ICTs,
providing training on the use of ICTs, protecting youth from digital harm, promoting the use
of ICTs by disabled and isolated youth, and finally, empowering youth to be contributors to
an inclusive information society. Also the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU)
World Summit on the Information Society provided a policy framework for ICTs and youth.
This took place in a two-phase process that yielded two key documents: the Geneva Plan of
Action (2003) and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (2005).

The Geneva Plan of Action acknowledges the many different aspects of development that
ICTs affect, and the way in which these different areas are interconnected and shape the
bigger picture of global development. Although it is not specific to children, the importance of
ICTs in development highlighted in the document is equally applicable to the work that civil
society is doing in enhancing the lives of children. The Tunis Agenda discusses the technical
implementation of increased ICT usage and further highlights the importance of ICTs for
development. Most recently, the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as international targets for
development, make specific reference to ICTs in Goal 9.c, which sets the goal to
“significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to
provide universal and affordable access to the internet in least developed countries by
2020.”

Furthermore, there is a group of agreements that call for the protection of children online
from exposure to risk and harm. Such agreements include the Optional Protocol on the Sale
of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography (2000), United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime (2000), Council of Europe Convention on Cyber
Crime (2001), and the Draft African Union Convention on the Establishment of a Legal
Framework Conducive to Cyber Security in Africa (2012). These policy documents call on
states and civil society to engage in educational initiatives and legislative measures that put
the best interests of the child at the forefront and ensure that children can develop autonomy
and agency in an online environment that is free from discrimination and violence in all of its
forms.

Role of the International System

The role of the international system on this topic has primarily involved implementing
programs that advance access to, and use of ICTs in developmental projects and in child
protection. UNICEF’s main emphasis is on equity and achieving the SDGs where they relate
to children.” More specifically, UNICEF works to incorporate ICTs into its work with children
and utilizes the specific characteristics of ICTs in its projects to enhance efficiency, in
addition to pioneering its own ICT-based projects in Member States. UNICEF often works in
partnership with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which advocate for ICTs in
communities and generally pioneer projects that use ICT for development.82 These
projects vary in focus, ranging from disaster relief to education depending on specific
expertise of the organization.

The ITU conducts research that is used by civil society in implementation of ICTs in
development, and has produced many useful pieces of in-depth research including the 2008
Report, Use of Information and Communication Technology by the World’s Children and
Youth: A Statistical Compilation. This report fills a gap in research around children’s ICT
usage particularly concerning which children are using what technology where. The UNICEF
Research Office, Innocenti, also conducts regular research into ways of enhancing child
protection online. Some of Innocenti’s research culminated in the 2011 Report entitled Child
Safety Online: Global Challenges and Strategies. This report outlines and discusses some of
the critical pieces of international legislation that deal with issues of digital protection, and
goes further to examine how such protection is necessary but difficult to implement.

The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) works in the area of
combating national and transnational crime, which includes crimes perpetrated both by and
against children. Some of the CCPCJ’s work to this end involves developing police and
prosecutorial capacity to best facilitate urban safety, and public accountability. In a 2014
report entitled Study Facilitating the Identification, Description and Evaluation of the Effects
of New Information Technologies on the Abuse and Exploitation of Children the CCPCJ
conducted an in depth inquiry into these issues in order to address how civil society and
state actors could best build solutions that offer adequate protection for children online. The
International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) also continuously conducts research and
is renewing its efforts in combating cyber-crime against children through initiatives such as
victim identification networks and digital tracking of child sexual abuse videos that can then
be used in police investigations.

The Impact of ICTs on Children in a Digital Age

ICTs can serve as useful tools in development in many ways, including supporting health
and educational initiatives, increasing civic participation, and closing gaps in access to
information. ICTs can accelerate human progress and bridge the gap in future opportunities
for children from varying backgrounds. According to Innocenti, in its report Children, ICT and
Development: Capturing the Potential, Meeting the Challenges, children interact with
technology in different ways, depending on the intervention presented. This report explains
how children can be direct participants in development through the use of ICTs, as can be
seen when they receive the opportunity through ICTs to be civically engaged. In addition,
they can be beneficiaries of programs utilizing ICTs both directly, when programs target
them specifically, and indirectly, as often programs that target mothers benefit children as
well. The areas of development that ICTs lend themselves to are vast and encompass
several different areas of children’s lives. In this section, ICTs shall be discussed in relation
to social integration, civic participation, child protection and reporting, health, and learning.
This section will also discuss equitable access to ICTs. Social Integration and Civic
Participation Social integration is a powerful tool in allowing children to fully develop socially
and therefore has perhaps been one of the most significant ways that ICTs have affected the
lives of children.
Primarily as a result of the Internet and the widespread use of mobile phones young
people are increasingly able to make connections and interact with people in places they are
not necessarily able to travel to, changing the way in which their social relationships are
formed. This has especially benefited disabled children who are at the highest risk of social
isolation in their formative years. In addition to including more children in society who would
otherwise be isolated, ICTs also can play an important role in allowing for civic participation
by all youth, allowing children to realize their rights to be heard by decision makers and have
their opinions taken into account in matters that concern them. Through initiatives such as
interactive SMS programs, young people are able to develop a sense of agency and
participate in decision-making in their communities. SMS programs are especially important
in low broadband areas where they may otherwise not have the opportunity to participate at
all due to lack of Internet access. An example of such a platform that has been particularly
effective is the “U Report” Program in Uganda developed by UNICEF. This program was
designed to increase children’s civic participation through a system where children subscribe
to the program via an SMS, after which they receive a question from UNICEF twice a week
on a range of developmental issues. The children have an opportunity to respond with a
comment, and all comments are collected and brought to discussions with media and
policymakers.

Results are published in newspapers and discussed with members of parliament on a

segment that is aired on both television and radio. In one instance, the Ugandan government
launched a youth entrepreneur fund and through the U Report, young people were able to
communicate to the government that while they were in favor of the program, they felt that its
academic requirements were too stringent for it to be accessible. As of 2013, U Report has
grown to a membership of 205,000 people, including all members of the Ugandan
parliament.

Child Protection

In addition to being useful for social and political purposes, mobile phones have become an
important tool in child protection, a critical component of children’s right to live safely and be
free from violence. Programs such as digital mapping and SMS reporting are a great
improvement for child protection as they create an easy route for communication for children
in distress. Digital mapping is a process by which reports of violence are reported via an
SMS service that links to a central base, and after complaints have been sent to relevant
local child protection services, they are stripped of identifying information and placed on a
map in order to create a visual representation of what kinds of complaints emanate from
different areas.

An example of such a program can be found in Benin, where this service is run by Plan
Benin, a branch of the international NGO dedicated to promoting children’s rights. The
program helps the organization to focus action plans and advocacy work based on the
information they have gathered. SMS reporting, on the other hand, is a type of program that
allows children to report crimes via their cell phones. One such example is in Egypt, where
an SMS service exists that allows older girls to assist younger girls in reporting corporal
punishment and harassment in school. In addition to this, there is an online program known
as Harassmap, run by an NGO, that is an online tool for reporting sexual harassment and
violence via SMS. Another program that is more widespread in different countries are
Child Helpline Services for reporting and counseling on occurrences of child abuse.

Communication technology revolutionized access to emergency helpline services with the

creation of helplines and other such services. In many countries, the introduction of a free
24-hour helpline for children to call when distressed saw increased reporting of rape, abuse,
and maltreatment of children.This has empowered children and adult bystanders to take
action and protect the rights of children to be free from exploitation and abuse. UNICEF
believes in the importance of creating reporting mechanisms in every state that allow
children to report violence, and views such helplines as a critical tool in achieving this aim.

ICTs for Education

ICTs are changing the way education is viewed and the manner in which children learn, and
they are key to materializing Articles 28 and 29 of the CRC, which recognize the child’s right
to education, and the necessity of children to develop their talents and abilities to their fullest
potential.123 Evidence shows that access to digital information enriches the learning
process and increases student participation in classroom discussions.124 This access
includes both access to computers and the Internet, but also to texts and course material
that enhance their learning.125 This use of ICTs in learning is impactful even in early
childhood education where it has been proven that early introduction to ICTs in the learning
space allows children to use them for development in both their learning and play
spaces.126 Incorporation of ICTs into educational policy and curriculum has been found to
strengthen early childhood education and in turn support the overall learning and
development of children.127 Further, having appropriate modern technology in schools can
allow children who are less privileged to gain access to ICTs. It is therefore also crucial that
teachers are digitally literate so that they can make the best use out of this technology in
their teaching.

Risk and Harm Considerations

As there are benefits of the use of ICTs, there are also risks and harms that must be
considered. These arise primarily because the Internet is completely unregulated, offering
much content that is greatly inappropriate for children, in addition to the fact that it is so easy
for children to access the Internet and other ICTs without adult supervision, increasing their
vulnerability online to those who target them. Risks can be defined as things that children
have the potential of being exposed to that could harm them, while a harm is the actual
tangible detriment that children suffer. The risks and harms for children present themselves
in many different ways and they can be commercial, as in exploitation and trafficking;
aggressive, as in cyber-bullying; sexual, as in child pornography or value based, as in
recruitment for extremist organizations. It is therefore important to ensure children’s safety
online to protect them from these risks and harms.

The ITU has established that child protection requires a multi-stakeholder approach that
includes government, civil society, and corporate entities acting in common purpose to be
effective. This action, as illustrated below, must be multifaceted and must include caregiver
education, as well as developing and implementing better policies to protect the personal
information of child users. The ITU provides five guidelines for key areas in child protection
that the ICT industry should consider when looking at the role of the technology
industry and corporate entities, which are: “integrating children’s rights considerations into
corporate policies and management processes; developing standard processes to handle
child sexual abuse material; creating a safer online age-appropriate environment; educating
children, parents, and teachers, about safety and responsible use of ICTs; and promoting
digital technology as a mode for increasing civic engagement.” The objectives that Innocenti
highlights and proposes as solutions are: helping children, getting rid of impunity given
abusers, decreasing the ability to access harmful content, and promoting recovery and
rehabilitation for children who may have experienced harm. In order for child protection to be
effective in the long run, however, there needs to be a greater focus on research, prevention,
punishment, and cooperation, according to the CCPCJ.

The problem with protection arises when one considers the breadth of the digital space, as
well as the difficulty in applying existing legislation on violence and discrimination
online.Many questions arise, including which states have jurisdiction, and how laws should
be applied consistently. Further, there is little clarity on who ultimately bears the
responsibility of online safety, and there is debate as to whether the burden should be on the
caregiver, the network provider, the website operators, or the state. Further intensifying the
complexity of the issue, it is almost impossible for protection to be efficient and effective
because of the anonymity of offenders combined with low victimization reporting, lack of
police force collaboration, and lack of clear universal legal definitions of online crimes. In
addition to the threats posed by strangers on the Internet, another issue to consider is
cyberbullying, in which children are bullied and harassed, often by their peers, online. This is
an increased threat to children’s well-being due to the speed with which hurtful messages
can be disseminated online, and is a main cause of depression and suicide in youth. While
children have the right to free expression in Article 13 of the CRC, this right ends as soon as
it harms other children.

Additionally, Article 16 emphasizes a child's right to privacy and to be free from attacks on
their reputation and honor. This concern is especially prevalent in countries where there are
very high rates of Internet use. In response to this, as one example, the UNICEF country
office conducted an advertising campaign in Chile to raise awareness about this issue and to
influence children to stand up against cyberbullying and not commit it themselves.

Conclusion

ICTs have in many ways changed the lens through which we view development, and the
way we consider children’s rights. The international community must now address the
question of how to effectively protect children in the digital space, while also simultaneously
establishing how to promote access and ensure their optimum online participation. A
multifaceted approach needs to be taken in addressing how best to navigate this intersection
and provide the best possible future for the world’s most vulnerable citizens. UNICEF is
continuously working to develop projects that are innovative and that use ICTs to further
development and to advance children’s rights. Within its mandate, it has and continues to
lobby for greater access to ICTs, and greater protections online. Increased research into
ICTs for children by UNICEF’s research offices allows for greater understanding and insight
into the topic, and directs the organization in the steps it should be taking to advance the
rights of children in a digital age.
Online learning platforms

When online platforms are provided for education, following should be kept in mind with
priority actions and practical recommendations for how society can harness the power of
digitalization to benefit the most disadvantaged children and limit the harms to protect those
children who are most vulnerable. These include:

1. Provide all children with affordable access to high-quality online resources: Actions should
include creating incentives to encourage telecom and technology companies to lower the
costs of connectivity; taking the needs of the unconnected into account when developing
infrastructure plans; investing in more public hotspots and the creation of more culturally and
linguistically appropriate content; and confronting cultural and other barriers that prevent
children – especially girls – from going online.

2. Protect children from harm online: Actions should include coordinating more closely at the
international and national levels and deepening collaboration between law enforcement and
the technology industry to keep pace with digital technology that can enable and conceal
illegal trafficking and other online child sexual abuse.

3. Safeguard children’s privacy: Actions should include urging a much greater commitment
by the private sector and government to protect and not misuse children’s data and to
respect its encryption; enforcing the application of international standards in collecting and
using data about children online; and teaching children how to protect themselves from
threats to their own privacy.

4. Teach digital literacy to keep children informed, engaged and safe online: Actions should
include greater collaboration between governments and technologists to develop ICT
platforms and curricula from primary school through high school, supporting online libraries
and expanding the capacity of public libraries to teach digital skills; investing in teacher
training in digital technology; teaching children how to recognize and protect themselves
from online dangers; and making digital citizenship a core component of digital literacy
instruction.

5. Leverage the power of the private sector to advance ethical standards and practices that
protect and benefit children online: Actions should include ethical product development and
marketing that mitigates risks to children and a greater commitment to expanding children’s
access to connectivity and content online. The private sector – especially technology and
telecom industries – has a special responsibility and a unique ability to shape the impact of
digital technology on children.

6. Put children at the center of digital policy: Actions should include investing in better data
about children’s access and activities online; developing regulatory frameworks that
recognize the distinct needs of children; strengthening coordination and knowledge sharing
at the global level to address the challenges of a digital world; deepening collaboration with
children’s organizations; and engaging more systematically with policymakers and
lawmakers.
Questions a resolution must answer

1. How does an organization such as UNICEF attempt to make tangible progress in

bridging the digital divide?
2. How does the digital divide affect your Member State?
3. Given that some of the children in the greatest need are often the most marginalized,
how does UNICEF ensure that their voices are heard and their rights are protected?
4. Further, in what ways can online protection be enhanced to provide real protection
for children online?
5. How do UNICEF, and other actors in the international system, act to address the
current problems that exist in creating a safe online space for children?
6. Where does UNICEF see itself fitting into the CCPCJ’s recommendations that child
online protection will need to prioritize research, prevention, punishment, and
cooperation, and how can UNICEF contribute to these goals?

Research Links

https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/SOWC_2017_ENG_WEB.pdf
https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/children/
https://ccnymun.wordpress.com/unicef-2016/
https://www.unicef-irc.org/research/childrens-rights-in-the-digital-age/

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