Identifying impacts on children’s rights

Using your data and user experience map as a basis, you should now identify the potential impacts on the rights of your child users. As outlined in the best interests of the child standard, the UNCRC provides the basis for making this impact assessment. Its articles collectively explain the needs and universal rights children hold.

To support you to identify where and how your service could positively support, or pose risks to, these rights, we’ve developed the best interests framework.

For simplicity, some UNCRC articles which we believe are less likely to be relevant in the Children’s code context are not included in the framework. However, you may need to consider them in some less common scenarios, depending on the nature and purpose of your service. To view the full list of children’s rights, refer to the full UNCRC convention. For each aspect of your data and user experience map, you should use the framework to:

• identify how the activity could positively support children’s rights, reflecting on the nature of the data processing activity or associated service feature and content in the “How could this right be supported?” sections;
• identify how the activity could pose risks to children’s rights, reflecting on the nature of the data processing activity or associated service feature and the content in the “How could this right be risked?” sections;
• document your reasoning for how the impacts could occur.

You should ensure that you consider potential impacts that could occur, as well as ones that you have already observed in your service. This is important as significant risks may still be present, even where the harm associated with that risk has yet to occur.