Digital Contact Tracing and Surveillance During COVID-19: General and child-specific ethical issues

Digital Contact Tracing and Surveillance During COVID-19: General and child-specific ethical issues

AUTHOR(S)
Karen Carter; Gabrielle Berman; Manuel Garcia Herranz; Vedran Sekara

Published: 2020 Innocenti Research Briefs
The response to COVID-19 has seen an unprecedented rapid scaling up of technologies to support digital contact tracing and surveillance. The consequent collation and use of personally identifiable data may however pose significant risks to children’s rights. This is compounded by the greater number and more varied players making decisions about how data, including children’s data, are used and how related risks are assessed and handled. This means that we need to establish clear governance processes for these tools and the data collection process and engage with a broader set of government and industry partners to ensure that children’s rights are not overlooked.
Digital Contact Tracing and Surveillance During COVID-19. General and child-specific ethical issues

Digital Contact Tracing and Surveillance During COVID-19. General and child-specific ethical issues

AUTHOR(S)
Gabrielle Berman; Karen Carter; Manuel Garcia Herranz; Vedran Sekara

Published: 2020 Innocenti Working Papers

Balancing the need to collect data to support good decision-making versus the need to protect children from harm created through the collection of the data has never been more challenging than in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The response to the pandemic has seen an unprecedented rapid scaling up of technologies to support digital contact tracing and surveillance. As the pandemic progresses, we are also likely to see the emergence of more applications that link datasets as we seek to better understand the secondary impacts of the pandemic on children and their families.

This working paper explores the implications for privacy as the linking of datasets increases the likelihood that children will be identifiable and consequently, the opportunities for (sensitive) data profiling. It also frequently involves making data available to a broader set of users or data managers.

While it is recognized that reuse of unidentifiable data could potentially serve future public health responses and research, the nature of, access to and use of the data now and in future necessitate accountability, transparency and clear governance processes. It requires that these be in place from the outset. These are needed to ensure that data privacy is protected to the greatest degree possible and that the limitations to the use of these data are clearly articulated.

UNICEF Innocenti Film Festival. Growing up. Stories from all over the world

UNICEF Innocenti Film Festival. Growing up. Stories from all over the world

Published: 2019 Miscellanea
2019 is a year of three important anniversaries for children. The world is marking the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the  child (1989 – 2019) - the global human rights treaty which guides all nations’ actions for children. The city of Florence is commemorating the 600th  anniversary of the founding of the Ospedale Degli Innocenti (1419 – 2019), the world’s oldest centre of care for vulnerable children. And UNICEF is marking the 30th year since it established its global research centre in Florence, known today as the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti. In celebration of these three anniversaries, UNICEF Innocenti has decided to expand upon its traditional role generating evidence for advocacy and  action for children, to inaugurate an international film festival focusing on narratives of childhood from all regions of the world. We are delighted to have forged a partnership with Fondazione Sistema Toscana, Cinema La Compagnia, the Region of Tuscany, the Municipality of Florence and Istituto Degli Innocenti, bringing you the first UNICEF Innocenti Film Festival.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 40 | Thematic area: Rights of the Child | Tags: children's rights
Realizing an Enabling Environment for Adolescent Well-being: An inventory of laws and policies for adolescents in South Asia

Realizing an Enabling Environment for Adolescent Well-being: An inventory of laws and policies for adolescents in South Asia

AUTHOR(S)
Elena Camilletti

Published: 2018 Innocenti Research Report

This paper takes stock of legal and policy frameworks for adolescents in the eight countries of South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The eight countries display a rich diversity of cultural, historical, political, social and economic institutions, which is reflected in their national legal and policy frameworks for adolescents. This paper sheds light on the similarities and differences among South Asian countries regarding the translation of international human rights law into their national normative frameworks, and aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how ‘adolescent-sensitive’ their legal and policy frameworks are.

The paper reviews the legal coverage across  nine sets of rights: the right to political participation; the right to protection; the right to education; the right to health; the right to marriage; the right to decent work and protection from child labour; the right to social protection; digital rights; the right to equality and non-discrimination. It compares the legal and policy frameworks for adolescents of the eight South Asian countries against the requirements of the international standards signed and ratified by each country.
One in Three: Internet Governance and Children’s Rights

One in Three: Internet Governance and Children’s Rights

AUTHOR(S)
Sonia Livingstone; Jasmina Byrne; John Carr

Published: 2016 Innocenti Discussion Papers
Typically, in the discussions around the use of the Internet, children are acknowledged only in the context of child protection while their rights to provision and participation are overlooked. This paper specifically argues against an age-generic (or ‘age-blind’) approach to ‘users’, because children have specific needs and rights that are not met by governance regimes designed for ‘everyone’. Policy and governance should now ensure children’s rights to access and use digital media and consider how the deployment of the Internet by wider society can enhance children’s rights across the board. The paper ends with six conclusions and recommendations about how to embed recognition of children’s rights in the activities and policies of international Internet governance institutions.
2014 Results Report

2014 Results Report

Published: 2015 Innocenti Publications
2014 marked a successful year for the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti and included the development of key research outputs, active advocacy for research, successful growth in the research portfolio, and expansion of outreach, tools and products. The Office actively engaged in: generating high-quality research to inform programmes and knowledge about children; strengthening the capacity to improve the quality and use of evidence; convening international events by acting as a catalyst for research globally. In 2014, research activities ranged from multi-disciplinary initiatives to large-scale international collaborative projects. High-calibre, policy-relevant research was conducted in the areas of: equity, poverty and well-being; child rights and governance; child protection and violence against children; social protection systems and cash transfers, among others.
La defensa de los derechos del niño: Informe de síntesis de un estudio global sobre las instituciones independientes de derechos humanos en favor de los niños

La defensa de los derechos del niño: Informe de síntesis de un estudio global sobre las instituciones independientes de derechos humanos en favor de los niños

AUTHOR(S)
Vanessa Sedletzki

Published: 2013 Innocenti Publications
Las instituciones independientes aportan un enfoque claro hacia la infancia en unos sistemas de gobernanza que tradicionalmente se centran en los adultos. Suelen ofrecer mecanismos directos para mejorar la rendición de cuentas del Estado y otros garantes de la protección del menor, palian deficiencias en los mecanismos de control y equilibrio y trabajan para que se comprenda y se reconozca la relevancia de las políticas y prácticas en favor de los derechos de los niños. Cuando las cosas salen mal, o cuando los resultados son insuficientes, apoyan medidas para poner remedio a la situación y reformar el sistema.
Championing Children's Rights: A global study of independent human rights institutions for children

Championing Children's Rights: A global study of independent human rights institutions for children

AUTHOR(S)
Vanessa Sedletzki

Published: 2013 Innocenti Publications
This study, globally the first comprehensive review of independent human rights institutions for children, takes stock of more than 20 years of their experience.The report provides practitioners with an extensive discussion of the issues as well as a series of regional analyses from around the world. The aim is to help readers understand the purpose and potential of independent human rights institutions for children, what it is they do and how they operate. This review covers institutions created by law or decree that are independent at least in principle. It includes institutions performing activities related to children’s rights operating at the national or local level. The report is organized into two major parts: a series of thematic chapters, drawing out lessons from practice on the distinctive principles and features underlying the function of child rights institutions; and an overview of their international development, looking at the work of institutions by region.
UNICEF Research for Children: From evidence to action

UNICEF Research for Children: From evidence to action

Published: 2013 Innocenti Publications
This volume represents the first systematic attempt to showcase the breadth and depth of UNICEF's research work. At the end of 2012, the Office of Research invited UNICEF's country and regional offices, national committees and headquarters to submit recent examples of research for children. Some 91 submissions of research were received and ten were selected to illustrate the best of UNICEF research. The result is a compilation of research activities that covers themes as diverse as the scaling up of early child development and the impact of repatriation on children's lives, and covers geographical areas from latin America to to Asia and from Africa to Europe.
Bienestar infantil en los países ricos: un panorama comparativo

Bienestar infantil en los países ricos: un panorama comparativo

AUTHOR(S)
Peter Adamson

Published: 2013 Innocenti Report Card
La primera parte del Report Card presenta una tabla clasificatoria del bienestar infantil en 29 de las economías más avanzadas del mundo. La segunda parte se centra en lo que los niños dicen sobre su propio bienestar (e incluye una tabla clasificatoria de la satisfacción de los niños con su vida). La tercera parte examina los cambios en el bienestar infantil en las economías avanzadas durante la primera década del siglo XXI y analiza el progreso de cada país en logros educativos, tasas de embarazos en adolescentes, niveles de obesidad infantil, prevalencia de casos de acoso escolar y consumo de tabaco, alcohol y drogas.
In difesa dei diritti dell'infanzia: Uno studio globale sulle istituzioni indipendenti dei diritti umani per l'infanzia - relazione di sintesi

In difesa dei diritti dell'infanzia: Uno studio globale sulle istituzioni indipendenti dei diritti umani per l'infanzia - relazione di sintesi

AUTHOR(S)
Vanessa Sedletzki

Published: 2013 Innocenti Publications
Il ruolo di queste istituzioni è quello di monitorare le azioni dei governi e di altri enti, promuovere la realizzazione dei diritti dell’infanzia, raccogliere reclami, fornire rimedi a eventuali violazioni e offrire uno spazio per il dialogo su bambini e adolescenti all’interno della società e fra I minorenni e lo Stato. Difendere gli interessi superiori dei bambini e dar voce a questi ultimi sono compiti centrali per la loro missione.
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