Children's Week Address: Don't be scared - it's just information!

Introduction

I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Arrernte people, and pay my respects to elders past, present and future. I would also like to thank Geraldine for the Welcome to Country, and to Tiara for her fabulous emceeing here tonight.

It is a pleasure to be here today to give the address at this Gala dinner in beautiful Alice Springs celebrating the end of National Children’s Week 2016, co-sponsored by NAPCAN and Anglicare NT. Special thanks to Elizabeth Flynn and Lesley Taylor for the invitation to be here to speak about the theme of this year’s Children’s Week: children’s right to information. But before I do I would also like to acknowledge some other special guests- Minister Dale Wakefield, Minister for Territory Families, and Minister Ken Vowles, Minister for Primary Industry and Resources.

For those who don’t know me, I’d like to tell you a little about my role.

I was appointed as Australia’s first National Children’s Commissioner in 2013. As National Children’s Commissioner, my role is to protect and promote the rights of children and young people.

My statutory obligations require me to pay particular regard to the international human rights treaties that relate to the rights of children, first and foremost of which is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) which came into force in 1990.

More than ever access to information and the technology that supports it is a human rights issue. Article 17 of the Convention states:

States Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health. To this end, States Parties shall:

(a) Encourage the mass media to disseminate information and material of social and cultural benefit to the child;

(b) Encourage international co-operation in the production, exchange and dissemination of such information and material from a diversity of cultural, national and international sources;

(c) Encourage the production and dissemination of children's books;

(d) Encourage the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic needs of the child who belongs to a minority group or who is indigenous;

(e) Encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well-being.

Even allowing for its use of the phrase ‘mass media’, Article 17 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child reads today as fully relevant to the digital era, in which media can reach a mass audience without being restricted to the minimally interactive mass media models of old.[1]

Conceived and developed in a pre-internet age, the final text of Article 17 of the Convention enshrined both children’s right to access beneficial content from diverse national and international sources and their right to be protected from harmful content. These two concepts have proved central to contemporary discussions around the benefits and risks of digital media.

Digital media have also arguably amplified states’ ability and reasons to carry out all five courses of action listed in Article 17, as well as in relation to reporting requirements mandated by Article 44 of the Convention on Article 17 itself and on the Convention as a whole.[2]

Today I would like to discuss with you children’s right to access to information and in particular its relationship to some of the new technological platforms that have emerged in recent times. For today’s young people these two issues are inseparable: technology is the main means to access information and a key means of communication.

The problem with adults

But let’s face it, many of us in the more mature category are a little scared of technology.

We don’t understand it and we can’t control it. It still feels unnatural. Nevertheless, we’ve tried to get with the times and be connected like the youngsters. We’ve managed to get on to Facebook or Twitter, which of course the young people have abandoned in droves since we found our way there. The hours we can waste there seem limitless but we don’t really know what we’re doing, we don’t understand this “friend” and “like” thing, we don’t really know who can see us and who can’t, what privacy settings do or don’t do or where our information goes. We couldn’t explain to anyone what an app is, but we buy and use them anyway. We google everything from recipes, to film reviews and what ails us but we forget to shut down endless open windows because they are not windows we can see, that let in air.

And the proliferation of new passwords required on what seems a daily basis is all too much for brains already on the downward gradient.

On top of all this the younger generation seem to have formed an impenetrable secret cyber society with its own language and meeting places from which we are banned. And we’re scared for them and about them inside their cyber society and space, we imagine them doing all sorts of things that are bad for them and put them at risk, but we don’t really have much of a clue what goes on at all.

Provision as a pre-requisite for protection, participation and development

Returning to Article 17, in the child's developmental process information plays an indispensable role. The informational process begins even before birth, and accompanies the child throughout childhood and further stages of human development.

Information affects the physical, emotional, cognitive and social development of the child. The way in which children learn to walk and to talk, and how they play and communicates with others is also based on the information they have received. The idea that information plays an important role, both in the development of identity and personality; and in social participation, has far-reaching implications for the providers of information to children.

Initially parents are the main source of information for the child. The human values which parents have integrated into their way of behaving form the early frame of reference for the child.

New sources of information are accessible to the child when they come into contact with others outside the family environment: from peers and teachers, in clubs, or in the neighbourhood. And the child is both a receiver and an active seeker of information in all these spaces.

The roots of the right to information can be found in the freedom of communication and the freedom of information, but the concept of the individual right to information is generally related to social participation rather than to personal development. The right to information, considered in the light of human development, requires a stronger visibility and protection from the perspective of the child seeker or receiver of information.

The role of mass media

A key focus of the Convention is on encouraging the mass media to disseminate beneficial material that accords with the spirit of the Convention’s Article 29. This article directs education towards respect for human rights and freedoms, and encouraging international cooperation in disseminating beneficial content from diverse sources.[3]

For diverse media sources to be accessed, they need to be provided. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) has linked this provision to both protection and participation. In a General Comment in 2003, citing Article 17’s reference to ‘physical and mental health’, the Committee asserted that the right to access appropriate information is crucial for ‘protection from harmful practices, including early marriages and female genital mutilation, and the use of alcohol, tobacco and other harmful substances’.[4]

In 2009 it drew a similar link with Article 12 of the CRC on the child’s right to be heard, stating that ‘fulfilment of the child’s right to information, consistent with Article 17, is to a large degree, a prerequisite for the effective realiation of the right to express views. Children need access to information in formats appropriate to their age and capacities on all issues of concern to them.’[5]

Other commentators have shown that, where media are concerned, participation is linked to protection, in the sense that without the ‘agency needed to participate and exercise rights, children can neither take advantage of the opportunities digital media afford nor develop resiliency when facing risks’.[6]

Online safety and Security

The Internet is a vast resource of information, education and entertainment. Yet there are high levels of community concern about whether the Internet exposes children to online safety and security risks.

Some studies have attempted to quantify this risk. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics an estimated 72,000 children (or 3 percent of all children who used the Internet at any location between April 2008 and April 2009) had experienced one or more personal safety or security problems online at some time in their life.[7] Of the most recent threats experienced by these children, the most common were accessing inappropriate material, having strangers ask for or gain access to personal information, or experiencing online bullying or threatening behaviour.[8]

It is also clear that the proliferation of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), and their use by children and young people, has increased the risk that children and young people may be exposed to harmful content online, including pornography. Representative or large-scale studies conducted across the world indicate that large numbers of children and young people are exposed to pornography, primarily online.[9]

Children and young people may come across this content inadvertently, or deliberately seek it out. Research indicates that children’s and young people’s attitudes and behaviour may be influenced by viewing pornography.[10] However, there appears to be only limited empirical evidence that viewing pornography causes children and young people to engage in coercive, aggressive or violent sexual behaviour.

A human rights based approach to protection from harm online requires balancing of rights, with the children and young people themselves being included in discussions about appropriate protective measures. Current regulatory responses, such as the removal of prohibited content under the Online Content Scheme, and the requirement that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer information and make available (at cost) filters that parents can install, can help prevent some exposure.[11]

However, the Australian Human Rights Commission’s view is that the key to effective protection of children and young people from the adverse impacts of viewing pornographic content is education. This includes information and education about safety online, critical discussion of pornography as part of age-appropriate education about sex and healthy and respectful relationships, and human rights education.[12]

My consultations with children and young people in 2013 revealed that most do not see a clear distinction between the online and physical worlds. They also reported, at quite young ages, frequent inadvertent access to pornographic material in their everyday computer and mobile device use, and expressed some anxiety about this. Further, they reported that they were often reluctant to report their experiences to parents due to both embarrassment and fear of being negatively judged.

In 2014, as part of an open-ended survey of European children and young people aged 9 to 16, around 10,000 children reported a range of risks that concerned them on the Internet.  Pornography was the top concern mentioned (22 percent), followed by cyber-bullying (19 percent) and violent content (18 percent).[14] Video-sharing websites such as YouTube were most frequently mentioned by children and young people as the source of violent and pornographic content online.[15] The authors of this report stated that:

The combination of unfamiliar technological affordances, uncertain online norms and offline peer pressure makes it hazardous to judge children’s intentions or responsibility in simple terms, and protective interventions from adults require care...children should be consulted regarding possible solutions...for their views in this regard also cannot be taken for granted.[16]

While pornography studies that investigate the impact on children and young people are a relatively new phenomenon, research is emerging that children’s and young people’s attitudes and behaviour may be influenced by viewing pornography.

The global literature review conducted by England’s Children’s Commissioner concluded that access and exposure to pornography affects children’s and young people’s sexual beliefs. For example, exposure to pornography has been linked to unrealistic attitudes about sex, maladaptive attitudes about relationships and more sexually permissive attitudes.[17] The review found there was a general consensus in the literature that children and young people learn from and may change their behaviour due to exposure and access to pornography.[18]

The review also concluded that there was evidence that viewing pornography impacted on attitudes about gender roles, and has been linked to beliefs that women are sex objects, and that men should be dominant and women submissive.[19]

The review also found that there are links between children’s and young people’s access and exposure to pornography and their engagement in ‘risky behaviours’ (defined as including engagement in sexual practices from a younger age, sexual behaviours such as unprotected anal or oral sex, and the involvement of drugs and alcohol in sex).[20]

However, the authors of the review also found that the majority of the research did not establish direct causal links between viewing pornography and engaging in ‘risky’ sexual behaviour, but rather correlation only.[21] The Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England concluded that ‘much more work needs to be done before definitive statements can be made about causal links between the use of pornography and perpetrators going on to commit sexual abuse or exploitation.’[22]

Other studies have noted the limited empirical evidence that viewing pornography causes children and young people to engage in coercive, aggressive or violent sexual behaviour.[23]

Strategies to keep children safe

However, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2009 nearly all children who used the Internet (98 percent) lived in households where parents had put in place strategies aimed at protecting their online safety and security.[24]

Parents used a variety of methods to protect children, the most popular actions including supervising and monitoring their child’s Internet use (89 percent of all children who used the Internet), educating their child about the safe and appropriate use of the Internet (83 percent) and placing the computer in a public area of the house (77 percent).[25]  Many parents used a combination of these approaches.

The strategies implemented by parents in part depended upon the age of the child. Parents of children aged 5-8 years and 9-11 years favoured supervising and monitoring their child’s computer usage (94 percent and 91 percent respectively), while parents of children aged 12-14 years (90 percent) preferred to educate their child about the proper use of the Internet.[26]

Understanding sources

I was recently interviewed by a thirteen-year-old journalist, Jack Hamill, about the information that kids come across today for an article in Crinkling News, Australia’s only national newspaper for kids. Some of the questions he asked were: Do you think political bias in media networks means that the news is exaggerated? Are media outlets explaining the news well-enough for children to understand? Are these outlets doing enough to protect children from false information? And who is responsible for the false information children are exposed to on social media? Should kids trust what they see on the Internet?

We discussed that while social media and the internet are fundamental parts of young people’s lives the best thing we can do is to educate ourselves and start asking questions about the sources of information we rely on.

Young people tell me they consider access to technology to be a right. And it’s not just about the technology itself, it’s about the access to information that technology provides to share news and other content quickly and easily. But we need to improve the way we do this. We need to make information much more available to young people from diverse and different backgrounds in particular.

One way of making this happen is for kids to know what codes of conduct exist about the nature and quality of content and which media outlets have signed up to them.
This is not just about protecting kids from false information, it is also about protecting kids from advertising which we know targets them.

These days, it’s easy for someone’s idea to become the news. It is important that young people question whether the content they are reading or watching is news or just one person’s opinion.

We all get bombarded with so much information, and for kids this can be overwhelming. That’s why it is so important that young people check the sources of information they’re relying on. Kids and adults need to build relationships with trusted sources. And if you don’t where your information is coming from, then ask.

Conclusion

While keeping children safe is a priority, we cannot keep children in the dark. First, this won’t work and second, it is counterproductive and works against the realisation of children’s rights.

The key role played by digital media in making children’s rights a reality was recognised by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its recommendation following the ‘Day of General Discussion on “Digital Media and Children’s Rights”’ in 2014. The Committee said:

States should recognise the importance of access to, and the use of, digital media and ICTs [information and communication technologies] for children and their potential to promote all children’s rights, in particular the rights to freedom of expression, access to appropriate information, participation, education as well as rest, leisure, play recreational activities, cultural life and the arts.[27]

Children’s right to information is a fundamental human right, and crucial to human development.

Once born, a child has to go through the process of growing up. Becoming a full-grown human being is not just a process of nature alone. Children’s biological evolution occurs in parallel to their developmental evolution, reflecting the culture in which the child grows up. And although cultural traditions vary they share the requirement of respect for life. As an inherent part of human dignity, every child should be provided with the chance to learn about this perspective and to develop as an authentic human being.

The right to information should be considered in the light of the overall aim of human rights to protect and respect life and to support the development of every human being to their fullest potential.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child acknowledges the evolving capacities of the child, which give them an increasing say in their own process of development. Taking part in discussions, community activities and decision-making processes are other aspects of a child's development recognised in the Convention. All these activities are only given meaning if they include a child's right to information. Implementation of the right to information requires deliberate consideration and action, which itself should be an example of respect for the human rights of children.

One of the main implications is an information policy with respect to making the Convention widely known. Further applications of the right to information could focus on understanding human rights and developing communication skills. Activities can include education in human rights, values education, and philosophy for children. Youth organisations form a field in which the right to information finds a useful practice. Media education and the use of newspapers in education can be other forms supporting the right to information. An old-fashioned example of a public institution facilitating this right is the public library.

The notion of human rights in the context of information means that information can only be exchanged on a basis of equality. We need to question therefore the extent to which we treat of children as equal partners. This scrutiny needs to be applied to both individuals working with children and to organisational intentions and practices.

This requirement applies to all human beings, regardless of your role - as parents, educators, politicians, business people, priests, doctors, lawyers, judges, artists or librarians.
As a basic human right, the right to information should provide children with possibilities to taste the quality of authentic life across the spectrum of all social, political and economic activity.

Thank you.

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References

[1] Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990) Article 17. 

[2] Article 44 of the Convention states that States Parties should “undertake to submit to the Committee, through the Secretary-General of the United Nations, reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the rights recognized herein and on the progress made on the enjoyment of those rights”. Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990) Article 44.

[3] Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990) Article 29.

[4] Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No.4: Adolescent Health and Development in the Context of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, UN Doc CRC/GC/2003/4 (July 2003) [6].

[5] Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No.12 on the right of the child to be heard, UN Doc CRC/C/GC/12 (July 2009) [82].

[6] Third, Bellerose et al, Children’s Rights in the Digital Age A download from children around the world (Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne, 2014) 8.

[7] Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Australian Social Trends, June 2011’ (4102.0, 29 June 2011) http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features60Jun+2011

[8] Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Australian Social Trends, June 2011’ (4102.0, 29 June 2011) http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features60Jun+2011

[9] See, for example, Karen Soeters and Katinka van Schaik, ‘Children’s experiences on the Internet’ (2006) 107(1/2) New Library World 31; Janis Wolak, Kimberly Mitchell, David Finkelhor ‘Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Internet Users’ (2007) 119(2) Pediatrics 247. 

[10] See, for example, Miranda A.H. Horvath et al, Basically...porn is everywhere: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People, Office of the Children’s Commissioner UK, (2014).

[11] Australian Human Rights Commission, Submission No 261 to Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications References, Parliament of Australia, Inquiry into harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the Internet, 16 April 2016, 3 <http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Online_access_to_porn/Submissions>.

[12] Australian Human Rights Commission, Submission No 261 to Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications References, Parliament of Australia, Inquiry into harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the Internet, 16 April 2016, 3 <http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Online_access_to_porn/Submissions>.

[13] Sonia Livingstone et al, ‘In their own words: What bothers children online?’ (2014) 29(3) European Journal of Communication 271, 274. 

[14] Sonia Livingstone et al, ‘In their own words: What bothers children online?’ (2014) 29(3) European Journal of Communication 271, 278-279.  

[15] Sonia Livingstone et al, ‘In their own words: What bothers children online?’ (2014) 29(3) European Journal of Communication 271, 283. 

[16] Sonia Livingstone et al, ‘In their own words: What bothers children online?’ (2014) 29(3) European Journal of Communication 271, 285. 

[17] Miranda A.H. Horvath et al, ‘Basically…porn is everywhere’: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People (Office of the Children’s Commissioner (UK), 2014) 7. 

[18] Miranda A.H. Horvath et al, ‘Basically…porn is everywhere’: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People (Office of the Children’s Commissioner (UK), 2014) 36. 

[19] Miranda A.H. Horvath et al, ‘Basically…porn is everywhere’: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People (Office of the Children’s Commissioner (UK), 2014) 35. 

[20] Miranda A.H. Horvath et al, ‘Basically…porn is everywhere’: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People (Office of the Children’s Commissioner (UK), 2014) 36-37. 

[21] Miranda A.H. Horvath et al, ‘Basically…porn is everywhere’: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People (Office of the Children’s Commissioner (UK), 2014) 36. 

[22] Miranda A.H. Horvath et al, ‘Basically…porn is everywhere’: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People (Office of the Children’s Commissioner (UK), 2014) 4. 

[23] Wendy O’Brien, Problem Sexual Behaviour in Children: A Review of the Literature (Australian Crime Commission, 2008) 36-37 (‘despite the tempting tidiness of this causative logic, there are still very few empirical studies that can prove that watching pornography, even violent pornography, incites viewers to enacting sexual violence’); Karen Baker, ‘Online pornography – Should schools be teaching your people about the risks? An exploration of the views of young people and teaching professionals’ (2015) Sex Education 1, 2-3. 

[24] Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Australian Social Trends, June 2011’ (4102.0, 29 June 2011) http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features60Jun+2011

[25] Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Australian Social Trends, June 2011’ (4102.0, 29 June 2011) http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features60Jun+2011

[26] Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Australian Social Trends, June 2011’ (4102.0, 29 June 2011) http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features60Jun+2011

[27] Committee on the Rights of the Child, Report of the 2014 Day of General Discussion ‘Digital media and children’s rights, [85] http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRC/Discussions/2014/DGD_report.pdf