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:
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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:
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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@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