In an era of rapid globalisation, the digital media has become a powerful way for children and young people to realise their rights --- ranging from accessing information, playing games, to expressing themselves freely and even anonymously. The latest digital technologies have a crucial role to play in empowering children by facilitating communication, education and activism. A growing body of evidence from across the world indicates that more and more children and young people are relying on digital tools, platforms and services to learn, engage, participate or socialise.
However, there are also new or evolving risks in this changing environment. Yet not all children have equal access to the digital media. Even with access, the digital media poses risks for children such as internet safety and cyber-bullying. As it becomes increasingly difficult to draw the line between offline and online, it is necessary for us to examine how this changing environment impacts the wellbeing and development of children and their rights. In this regard, the publication Children's Rights in the Digital Age: A download from children around the world is a very useful and comprehensive tool for all working for the betterment of children and young people.
In April 2014, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and UNICEF co-hosted, in collaboration with PEW Internet, EU Kids Online, the Internet Society (ISOC), Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), and YouthPolicy.org, the first-ever international 'digitally connected' symposium on children, youths, and the digital media. The symposium raised a key question that gained special relevance given the focus of the Committee on the Rights of the Child 2014 Day of General Discussion: "How can we give children and young people voice in the debate that explores the impact of digital access and use and their rights?"
The publication focuses on 10 core messages derived from this 'digitally connected' symposium:
1) Children around the world increasingly think of access to the digital media as a fundamental right. For children in the developing world, and for some in the developed world, access is still the biggest issue they face in relation to using the digital media to enact their rights.
2) Regardless of the country they live in, the language they speak, or their socio-economic background, if children have regular and reliable access to the digital media, they tend to use it for a common set of purposes: social connectedness; access to information; education; self-expression/creativity; and entertainment. Although children are concerned about how their digital media practices might negatively impact upon their rights, children overwhelmingly experience the digital media as a positive influence on their lives.
3) Literacy, the tri-fold literacy of today's very user-driven digital media environment - digital, media and social literacy - is fundamental to children's capacity to use the digital media competently and exercise their rights in and with this media. Literacy provides the technical and higher-order evaluative skills required to access, understand, produce and participate in the digital media.
4) While children noted that the digital media facilitates their communicative, educational and informational needs, many children have found it difficult to articulate the ways in which the digital media has enhanced their lives and their rights in more specific and precise terms. By contrast, children generally have found it much more straightforward in spelling out the risks and challenges associated with their digital media practices, quite possibly because their schooling in online practice has been dominated by the risk narrative.
5) Children understand their digital rights as closely intertwined with their human rights more broadly. They do not readily distinguish between the online and the offline but regard digital spaces as just another setting in which they carry out their lives.
6) Children's safety in connected media is vital, but it needs to be understood in the context of the spectrum of their digital rights, for example, in balance with children's rights of provision and participation in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Agency is as crucial to positive, effective use of the digital media as safety is. Without the agency needed to participate and exercise rights, children can neither take advantage of the opportunities the digital media affords nor develop resiliency when facing risks. They must be encouraged to think critically and develop their own language, views, strategies, associations and interests as users of the connected digital media.
7) Children increasingly see the digital media as crucial to their rights to information, education, and participation. By engaging with this media they learn new skills and develop their talent; they become informed citizens of the world who can contribute meaningfully to their communities; and they foster friendships, family ties, and a sense of community and belonging. These things are important to their resilience and wellbeing.
8) Children worry about how their digital participation might compromise their protection rights, and they take active steps to keep themselves safe. They don't always worry about the things in the similar area that concern the adults. We need child-centred definitions of risks and opportunities associated with the digital media.
9) Children say that the rights they enjoy in relation to the digital media come with real responsibilities. These include understanding the consequences of their engagements, being personally accountable for the ways their online interactions impact others, and knowing when to exercise self-control. They want adults to understand how and why they use the digital media, and they want to be trusted in using it wisely.
10) Policy makers and practitioners must engage children in a continued conversation about how to use the digital media to support children's rights. Children want to be involved in these conversations. They want to take responsibility for making the internet a better place, and they have valuable expertise to share.
From these core messages based on the discussions of the symposium, it becomes quite clear that we need to take necessary steps to ensure that all children can avail the opportunities of digital access, advance their rights, while also ensuring their safety.
In the 25 years since the adoption of the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child', the world has undergone significant cultural changes, of which the rapid development of the digital media is a defining aspect. The challenge today is thus to rethink the rights enshrined in the Convention in the light of the digital age. Ultimately, the digital media is a powerful force that can inevitably play a crucial role in shaping a modern understanding of children's rights, and it is, therefore, important that this potential is harnessed and directed into positive channels.
The writer is an independent researcher.
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Children's Rights in the Digital Age: A download from children around the world Published by Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne, in partnership with Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and UNICEF, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9925966-4-4
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