Paper details

Paper authors	Jessica Jonsson
In panel on	Ethics of Humanitarian Action & Politics of Humanitarianism on the Subject of Child Rights Complaints Mechanisms
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

DIGITALIZATION AND CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION
Children’s Right to Digital Environment in Humanitarian Situations

Summary: This article examines to what extent new technologies and digitalization can improve crisis response with and from a child rights perspective.

With the CRC Committee’s 25th General Comment on Children’s Rights in relation to the digital environment it is not only new means and methods of warfare that challenge how we perceive and conceptualise humanitarian action and protection measures.
The article considers how humanitarian actors utilise the digital opportunities of today, with new technologies, digitalization, and big data reshaping our societies. Can harnessing the power of technology and digital innovation for children mean digital public goods that promote humanitarian action in protecting human rights, with accelerate participation and accountability? Or are the rapid developments in AI, automation, or robotics first and foremost a threat to the right to privacy and protection of the private sphere in times of war and peace, with a great responsibility placed on governments and humanitarian actors to ensure, through legislation, regulation and policies, that children are protected from further violations?
With a few examples of todays humanitarian applications, the article explores new developments of emerging technologies in crisis response with a focus on the level of protection they are meant to ensure.

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