The Helix Foundation is pleased to endorse the 5Rights Foundation’s submission to the Canadian Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s development of children’s privacy code.
So many aspects of children’s lives today are connected to the digital world- think of school, home, friendships, hobbies and more. Contrary to what some adults think, children and youth care very much about privacy and having their right to information protected. Technology companies encourage children to share a lot of data, and it can be hard for children and youth to use digital tools in the way they want to without sharing this data.
The right to privacy for children is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including in General Comment 25 which states, “upholding “[p]rivacy is vital to children’s
agency, dignity and safety and for the exercise of their rights”. Focusing on the right to privacy as a right that children hold could help to resolve tensions between access to information, protection from exploitation, and privacy.
The recommendations for steps forward include focusing on the best interests of the child, doing a Child Rights Impact Assessment on any policy or legislation related to children and policy, better transparency and accountability, and age appropriate applications, amongst other evidence-based suggestions.
Read the full piece here.
