Opal Masocha Sibanda

Towards a more effective and coordinated response by the African Union on children’s privacy online in Africa

Introduction

Towards a more effective and coordinated response by the african union on children’s privacy online in africa. Assess how the African Union protects children's online privacy and data in Africa. Argues for stronger, explicit policies and coordinated measures to safeguard vulnerable children's digital rights.

Abstract

The development and expansion of digital technologies in Africa have brought invaluable opportunities for the realisation of children’s rights. However, the significant growth of internet connectivity and ICT access has also raised concerns about children’s online safety and privacy. With growing concerns on children’s privacy and personal data protection, there is a need for robust harmonised standards and regulatory frameworks to address all aspects of children’s privacy online. Through desk review, this article assesses the extent to which children’s right to privacy online and personal data is protected and integrated in the standards and regulatory frameworks of the African Union. An assessment of the applicable instruments and jurisprudence of the key human rights bodies indicates that children’s privacy online and data protection are not adequately addressed as there is limited or no focus on the protection of children’s personal data online. In most instruments related to cybersecurity, there are no explicit provisions relating to the protection of children’s personal data and childrenare only mentioned in provisions on child pornography. The article argues that children deserve specific protection as a vulnerable group hence the urgent need to explicitly protect children’s personal data and privacy in the human rights instruments adopted at the African Union level as it is the approach in the European Union’s General Data Protection. The article further argues that there is a need to adopt more effective measures by the African Union and its organs to ensure that children’s privacy in all its aspects is protected in the digital sphere.

Review

The article, "Towards a more effective and coordinated response by the African Union on children’s privacy online in Africa," addresses a profoundly relevant and increasingly urgent topic concerning children’s rights in the digital age across Africa. By employing a desk review methodology, the authors meticulously assess the extent to which children’s online privacy and personal data protection are integrated into the existing standards and regulatory frameworks of the African Union. The abstract clearly articulates the core finding: a significant lacuna in current AU instruments and jurisprudence, where explicit provisions for children’s personal data protection are largely absent, often reducing children's mention to contexts of child pornography rather than comprehensive data privacy. A key strength of this submission lies in its forceful argument for treating children as a vulnerable group deserving specific, explicit protection regarding their online personal data. The article effectively highlights the disconnect between the opportunities digital technologies offer for children's rights and the concurrent rise in privacy concerns, which are currently inadequately addressed by regional frameworks. The authors' call for robust harmonised standards and regulatory frameworks, drawing a strategic parallel to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) approach, provides a constructive path forward and grounds the advocacy in a well-established international precedent. This comparative insight enriches the policy recommendations advanced by the article. This research makes a vital contribution to the discourse on digital rights and child protection in Africa, providing a critical analysis that underscores the need for immediate and concerted action by the African Union. Its findings are poised to significantly inform advocacy efforts and policy development aimed at rectifying the identified systemic gaps. While effectively pinpointing the inadequacy of current provisions, the article sets a strong foundation for future research that could explore specific legislative models or tailored implementation strategies for such explicit protections within the diverse African context. Overall, this is a timely and impactful piece that merits significant attention from policymakers, legal scholars, and children's rights advocates alike.

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