Announcing Publication of the Wikimedia Foundation’s Child Rights Impact Assessment - Wikimedia-l

17 Jan 2024

Dear Wikimedians,

On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, I am pleased to announce the
publication of our first child rights impact assessment
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/01/17/protecting-youth-online-wikimedia-foundation-publishes-its-first-child-rights-impact-assessment/>
(CRIA). This report forms an important part of the Foundation’s long-term
efforts to meet the commitments articulated in our Human Rights Policy
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Human_Rights_Policy>. The
assessment builds upon our 2020 organizational Human Rights Impact
Assessment
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Human_Rights_Impact_Assessment>
(HRIA), which identified risks to children’s rights as one of five
categories of significant human rights risks facing the Foundation and
Wikimedia communities. The HRIA recommended that the Foundation undertake a
targeted assessment to better understand this category of risks.

What is in the report?

Publishing this CRIA represents a significant step forward in the
Foundation’s human rights endeavors. The CRIA was prepared by Article One
<https://articleoneadvisors.com/>, a strategy consultancy with expertise in
human rights. In it, Article One identifies and analyzes the impacts,
risks, and opportunities posed to children that access and participate in
Wikimedia projects. It proposes recommendations that the Foundation and
Wikimedia’s volunteer community could implement to mitigate those risks, so
that children can fully benefit from participating in our projects

Of the recommendations, the Foundation is positioned to act upon a number
of them, while others provide an opportunity for collaboration between the
Foundation and the volunteer community to address, and others the volunteer
community is better positioned to lead. We hope these recommendations will
give us all a basis for dialogue and collaboration around making Wikimedia
a safer space for children.

Making sense of the findings

To help you digest this report, we’ve prepared a number of resources for
you, including:

   -

   A Diff blog pos

<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/01/17/protecting-youth-online-wikimedia-foundation-publishes-its-first-child-rights-impact-assessment/>t
   summarizing the findings of the CRIA and what it means for the movement;
   -

   A Meta page

<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Child_Rights_Impact_Assessment>
   to serve as the “home” for the report and to provide more background
   information on the report, including its objectives, the timeline in which
   it was completed, the methodology that was employed to develop the report,
   and actions the Foundation has taken since first receiving the report;
   -

   The full report

<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ArticleOne_-_WMF_Child_Rights_Impact_Assessment_Report_2023.pdf>,
   which contains a foreword from the Foundation’s General Counsel, an
   executive summary, a risk analysis, and recommendations. The report is
   available in English, French and Spanish.

Working together to protect child safety on Wikimedia projects

We want to hear from you on this topic: What questions do you have? What
are your thoughts on the risks and recommendations from the report? What is
your community already doing, or what would you like to do, to ensure the
safety of children on Wikimedia projects? How can we collaborate to make
progress? Leave a message on the report’s Talk page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Child_Rights_Impact_Assessment&action=edit&redlink=1>
or register and join us at either of the two community conversation hours
scheduled for the following times:

   -

   Friday, 23 February at 13:00 UTC

<https://wikimedia.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkcOmoqDopEt38H6i8ueP2Gv_8oXQDxukO>
   -

   Friday, 23 February at: 18:00 UTC

<https://wikimedia.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvde-trTspHtE5a7ZAnHOrtpblIctOFnJv>

If you prefer to ask questions or share information privately, you can also
email us at youthsurvey(a)wikimedia.org. We will take the information we
gather across channels to prepare a map of efforts happening across the
movement and ideas for collaboration and implementation. We look forward to
hearing from you.

Thank you,

*Ricky Gaines*

Senior Human Rights Advocacy Manager

Wikimedia Foundation