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State Obligations to Protect and Fulfil Children’s Rights in the Digital Environment
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Abstract: (3 Views) |
Background and Aim: The rapid expansion of digital technologies has transformed childhood from a condition experienced predominantly in physical settings into one increasingly situated across interconnected online and offline environments. This transformation has expanded not only the opportunities available to children for accessing education, information, communication, participation, play and cultural life, but also the scope and complexity of risks to their rights, including privacy and personal data violations, online violence and abuse, sexual exploitation, discriminatory algorithmic practices, commercial exploitation and behavioural manipulation, and threats to physical and mental health. Against this background, the central question of this study is how the scope and nature of States’ obligations concerning children’s rights should be understood in the digital environment and to what extent the Iranian legal framework corresponds with emerging international standards.
Method: Adopting a qualitative and descriptive-analytical approach, this study examines international human rights instruments, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols, the interpretive practice of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, relevant Iranian laws and regulatory instruments, and pertinent scholarly literature. The analysis is principally normative and focuses on the obligations of States to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights in the digital environment.
Results: The study demonstrates that the digital environment does not constitute a legally exceptional sphere outside the scope of children’s rights; rather, it represents a contemporary environment in which all rights recognized under the Convention must be respected, protected and fulfilled. Accordingly, States’ obligations extend beyond the adoption of protective legislation and encompass negative and positive duties, including the prevention of rights violations by public and private actors, effective regulation of digital service providers, protection of children’s privacy and personal data, equitable and meaningful access to digital technologies, digital literacy, effective monitoring, and accessible remedies. These obligations must be interpreted through the four general principles of the Convention: non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development, and the right of the child to be heard. General Comment No. 25 (2021) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child provides a particularly significant normative framework for applying these principles to the digital environment and calls upon States to adopt legislative, policy and institutional measures in response to the opportunities, risks and challenges created by digital technologies.
Conclusion: Effective protection of children’s rights in the digital age requires a shift from a predominantly risk-based approach of “protecting children from technology” towards a rights-based framework centred on “children’s rights in the digital environment.” In Iran, although existing criminal legislation, digital-governance policies and child-protection instruments provide important foundations, the absence of a coherent, comprehensive and rights-based regulatory framework remains a significant challenge. Strengthening platform accountability, safeguarding children’s privacy and personal data, conducting child-rights impact assessments of emerging technologies, establishing effective complaint and remedy mechanisms, addressing digital inequalities, and ensuring meaningful child participation are therefore essential to translating international standards into effective domestic protection.
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| Keywords: Children’s Rights, Digital Environment, State Obligations, General Comment No.25, Digital Human Rights, Privacy, Child Protection, Iran |
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Full-Text [PDF 661 kb]
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Type of Study: Original Article |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2024/02/8 | Accepted: 2024/05/27
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