Policy Guide on Children and Digital Connectivity

Digital technology and connectivity are fundamentally changing children’s lives. As connectivity spreads to all parts of the globe and the use and application of technology widens, the impact on children and their lives grows. Children who are connected can benefit from numerous opportunities but may also be exposed to a myriad of risks. Those who are not connected risk exclusion and disadvantage as most of the modern world remains out of their reach. The advance of new technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), which powers critical, automated decisions, will affect children’s digital lives in new ways: not only by influencing what they see online (see discussion on ‘fake news’), but also by enabling access to education opportunities, jobs, health insurance, and other benefits. As an advocate for children, UNICEF is compelled to engage on this issue and work with its partners to support the development of a range of policies and programs, both to enhance children’s engagement with the internet and to help make their use of it safer. As this policy guide shows, there is a recognizable inter-connectedness of policies that address access and connectivity, skills, literacies, safety, and privacy.

Digital Safeguarding for Migrating and Displaced Children

An estimated 34 million children and youth are forcibly displaced1 and many more are on the move in search of economic and educational opportunities. Digital connectivity, digital data, and emerging technologies are changing how displaced people inform themselves and access information and communicate, as well as how agencies conduct and manage their programming and measure impact. The learning from this report will support Save the Children’s internal capacity building regarding responsible applications of technology for child and youth programming, and at the same time, provides a significant and timely contribution to emerging sector-wide digital child safeguarding good practice.

Child Protection: Digital opportunities, challenges and innovations across the region

In June 2020, the Child Protection section of UNICEF’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) conducted a survey across every country in the Region to find out how governments and partners have been using digital technology to respond to child protection issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey aimed to enhance understanding of the use of digital platforms for child protection. This note summarizes findings from all 23 of the countries in the region that participated in the survey. It also draws on additional information from a rapid online review of literature and learning related to digital technology and social work case management. It aims to capture the broad lessons emerging from the research so that other countries can review and expand upon the lessons learned.

Digitally Enhanced Child Protection: How new technology can prevent violence against children in the Global South

The last decade has witnessed a growing appreciation of the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to protect children from violence. The issue of violence against children (VAC) is of singular importance. And while the full scope and scale of VAC remain hidden from view there is widespread consensus that “every year and in every region of the world, millions of children suffer the cumulative impact of physical, mental and emotional violence, and millions more are at risk”. Although ICT innovation for child protection is comparatively advanced in North America and Western Europe, there is less known about new tools in lower- and middle-income settings in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. This strategic paper begins filling this knowledge gap and reviews the emerging character and functions of ICTs to prevent VAC in the global South.

Online Violence Against Young Female Workers: Risks, Threats, and Mitigation Strategies

The digital transformation is creating new job opportunities, especially for women, who are able to work from home and overcome time and mobility constraints. In the United States, 49.3 percent of women worked from home in 2020, while data from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries show that women have been more likely to telework than men during the pandemic. However, digital technologies also bring new risks—one of these is online violence. In addition to psychological harm, this form of violence may undermine the positive effects of the digital transformation by increasing the likelihood that young women forgo or leave digital jobs. This brief presents emerging evidence of the scale of such problems in low- and middle-income countries and their impact on the participation of young women in digital sectors and suggests policy responses.

UNICEF Protecting Children Online Resources

UNICEF works to make the internet a safe place for children to learn, socialize and express themselves. Through their Global Kids Online  and Disrupting Harm projects, they gather evidence on children’s digital rights, opportunities and risks to better understand how use of digital technology contributes to their lives – and when it amplifies their risk of harm. Their website includes multiple relevant resources including Ending Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; COVID-19 and Its Implications for Protecting Children Online: A technical note from UNICEF and partners; The State of the World’s Children, 2017: Children in a Digital World; Perils and Possibilities: Growing Up Online; Guidelines for Industry on Online Child Protection; Advocacy Brief: Child Online Protection; WePROTECT Global Alliance: Intelligence Brief Impact of COVID-19 on online child sexual exploitation; WePROTECT Global Alliance: Preventing and Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse – A Model National Response; and WePROTECT Global Alliance: Working Examples of Model National Response Capabilities and Implementation.