Session
Organizer 1: Maria Góes de Mello, Instituto Alana
Organizer 2: João Coelho, Instituto Alana
Organizer 3: Thaís Rugolo, Alana Institute
Speaker 1: Maria Cristina Capelo , Private Sector, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: Kavya Pearlman, Civil Society, Eastern European Group
Speaker 3: Tarique Kenny, Intergovernmental Organization, African Group
Speaker 4: ALVARO MACHADO DIAS, Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Maria Góes de Mello, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
João Coelho, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Thaís Rugolo, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Panel - Auditorium - 90 Min
What are the risks to the safety, privacy and children's rights under the UNCRC involved with the development of augmented realities coordinated by big companies?
What are the possible implications of the metaverse and virtual reality technologies on the development of children?
What governance standards, policies and regulatory framework can be potentially implemented to grant a metaverse that is respectful to children and their rights since its design?
Connection with previous Messages: The proposal is directly connected to the message "Emerging Regulation: Market Structure, Content Data and Consumer Rights and Protection", which stems from the objective of building the metaverse, a new space with high insertion of artificial technology, to be inclusive to all people, especially the most vulnerable ones, represented here by children and teenagers. To this end, discussions will be held from a multisectoral perspective, inequalities imposed on the global south and taking into consideration the new UNCRC General Comment No. 25, on Children's Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment. The main goal is the development of technical and legal frameworks, including concepts like interoperability and others expected to grant children's rights in virtual reality.
3. Good Health and Well-Being
3.1
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
12. Responsible Production and Consumption
12.7
12.8
12.a
17. Partnerships for the Goals
17.16
Targets: The proposal debates how children can be affected by immersive technologies such as metaverse. This discussion focuses on multistakeholder perspectives and actions, ensuring the younger's voice and people’s perspective from delegated countries.
The proposal focuses on promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns while debating technology that respects children and doesn’t explore their vulnerabilities. In addition, the proposal addresses the well-being of people of all ages and ensures that healthy technologies are available also to the most vulnerable. By promoting South-global voices, we reduce inequality among countries, especially by combating asymmetries practices.
The proposal, therefore, addresses that children’s rights have to be respected since the development of new products and services, especially the most immersive and reality-based ones like the metaverse. This ensures industry's inclusiveness, fosters and sustainable innovation, and focuses on multistakeholder visions to strengthen the means of implementation and the global partnership for sustainable development.
Description:
Powered by virtual and augmented reality technologies, the metaverse is heralded as the next level of the Internet. For users, it is a novelty that allows new ways to connect, entertain, work and interact with the Internet. For platforms and companies, it represents the possibility to get closer to users, in an immersive and interactive way. If this innovation, however, causes some concerns about how we can develop new resources and respect Human Rights, those concerns get much deeper through the lens of the Rights of the Child.
We know that the Internet was born from a public perspective that initially included governments and universities. The private sector was introduced into the Internet circuit after the period of its creation. The metaverse and the VR technologies that grant its immersiveness, on the other hand, are now being developed and implemented by giant technology companies, some of them founded on profitable business models that exploit users' personal data.
Moreover, the immersion promoted by the metaverse blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy, which, from children's perspective, especially because of their vulnerability, can cause confusion and have a great impact on their development. Consequently, families and educators are invited to be under even more control of their children's navigation, which, in some cases, is a very unfair frame.
Under these circumstances and following the new UNCRC General Comment No. 25, on Children's Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment, this session aims to further the understanding and provoke discussion on how platforms, technical developers, decision-makers, and the whole community can implement a metaverse that respects children's rights, from its conception to execution.
To accomplish this, speakers from different areas of knowledge will discuss, in an objective way, what risks and gains the metaverse can potentially offer to children’s rights and what standards, policies, and regulatory frameworks can be possibly developed and implemented to protect children also in the metaverse.
This workshop is expected to raise the protection of children as a priority among the entire technical, political, and business community, especially under the implementation of immersive technologies such as the metaverse. A material expected outcome is the awareness-raising of multisectoral stakeholders IGF attendees.
Hybrid Format: The panel format will be divided into speakers' presentations and questions and answers round.
First, the onsite moderation will contextualize in 5 minutes the metaverse and the major opportunities and concerns involving children’s rights.
In sequence, the moderator will introduce the speakers, and each one of them will have 10 minutes to present their point of view, guided by the policy questions.
After the speakers' presentation, onsite moderation and online moderation will select at least 4 attendees, alternated by onsite audience and online audience, who will ask their questions directly to one speaker, who will have 4 minutes to respond.
The last 15 minutes will be dedicated to the speakers' final notes and the online moderation resume of points sent by the online audience.
To ensure online participation, in addition to encouraging questions, the online moderator will ask the online audience to respond in the chat the main words that, according to all the discussion, respond to the policy questions.
Usage of IGF Official Tool.