Session
Organizer 1: Jutta Croll, 🔒Stiftung Digitale Chancen / Digital Opportunities Foundation
Organizer 2: Peter Joziasse, Digital Child Rights Foundation
Organizer 3: Torsten Krause, Digital Opportunities Foundation
Organizer 4: Sophie Pohle, German Children's Fund
Organizer 5: Banafsheh Kermani, University of Applied Science Potsdam
Speaker 1: Lhajoui Maryem, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Deepali Liberhan, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Hazel Bitaña, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 4: Emma Day, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Michael Barngrover, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Jutta Croll, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Sophie Pohle, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Torsten Krause, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: As the metaverse will be the habitat of all users in the future, we will need exchange of perspectives and debates in advance. The room layout will ensure that experts for virtual reality development and experts for regulation and standardisation will be sharing their knowledge with participants and listen to concerns regarding the topic. A debate on eye-level will be enhanced by the setting of a roundtable where everybody is welcome to bring in their views. In case of travel restrictions or availability issues we have nominated an additional speaker in order to make sure that we end up with a truly diverse spectrum of views in regard of stakeholder group, age and geographic region. Once the workshop is accepted the number of speakers will be limited to five.
1. How does Internet Governance, national and international regulation address virtual reality and the metaverse? 2. How can human rights be exercised by children in virtual reality environments and who will be in charge of enforcement? 3. What are the guiding principles for regulation and standards in the emerging new markets?
What will participants gain from attending this session? The session will explain the history of Virtual Reality, what new formats and platforms already exist and how emerging services may look like. Benefits and risks will be assessed with a special focus on their impact on minors. An overview will be given on regulation like the European AI Act, DSA and DMA and international human rights frameworks. Eventually a forecast where to set further guard rails to ensure human rights are respected and fulfilled in virtual reality environments will conclude the session. Building on the Kyoto Messages participants will become familiar with the concept of the best interests of the child as a primary consideration and how to treat it in the metaverse. They will learn how digital technology companies and developers shall incorporate human rights law and principles in the development, deployment and use of digital and emerging technologies according to Principle 23.(a) of the Global Digital Compact.
Description:
Virtual worlds and the metaverse are laying ahead of us and this innovation will have a huge impact on our future life as generative AI already has nowadays. Children are exploring the digital environment as it is and will be early adopters of innovative services and platforms to come. Virtual worlds and generative artificial intelligence will be a major driver for network capacity and offer a wide range of opportunities and benefits but, hazards and risks cannot be ruled out. To harness the benefits and prepare a level playing field for emerging new markets, standardisation is mandatory, but also risks must be anticipated and managed based on the principle of safety by design. Art. 3 of the UN-Convention on the Rights of the Child demands “the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children.” Consequently, shaping the regulatory framework for Virtual Worlds and Artificial Intelligence must adhere to a child rights-based approach. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has phrased General Comment No. 25, para. 4 as follows: “The rights of every child must be respected, protected, and fulfilled in the digital environment. Innovations in digital technologies affect children’s lives and their rights in ways that are wide-ranging and interdependent, even where children do not themselves access the Internet. Meaningful access to digital technologies can support children to realize the full range of their civil, political, cultural, economic, and social rights. However, if digital inclusion is not achieved, existing inequalities are likely to increase, and new ones may arise.” Internet Governance should be future oriented and take account of assessment of new technologies. Therefore, it is timely to take up on an approach to govern the new and innovative developments in a way that balances economic interest and human rights.
The result of the session will be a road map to a landscape of virtual reality and the metaverse designed for people and an accompanying draft framework for regulation and standardisation that balances the economical potential of emerging markets and respect for human rights. These results will be based on the views of a diverse group of participants including and reflecting the voice of young people themselves by a speaker of their age. The organisers, Digital Opportunities Foundation (Jutta Croll) and Digital Child Rights Foundation (Peter Joziasse) have outreach into different regions of the world (esp. African continent, Asia, and Europe); they will ensure the expected outcomes will feed into policy decision making on national, European and international level. Also, our co-organisers German Children's Fund (DKHW) and our stakeholder from the region Banafsheh Kermani will support the dissemination of expected outcomes.
Hybrid Format: All participants shall be able to bring forward their own perspective on human rights and the metaverse. The moderator will introduce experts on VR, AI and the metaverse and make sure there is a common understanding of what we are deliberating. Then the round table format will allow all participants to speak, supported by one moderator taking care of the chat as an additional channel for input. 15 minutes will be dedicated for input from the key speakers, optional presentations limited to 1 slide. Then 60 minutes are foreseen for interaction between participants onsite and online, where all will be advised to limit their input to really short statements. Eventually the last 15 minutes are reserved for wrap-up and concluding observations towards the aimed for roadmap. The moderator will adhere to a strict time management and encourage participants online and onsite to take the floor and present their views.
Report
Virtual environments have a huge potential for immersive learning not only but especially for children supporting their evolving capacities.
Age Assurance will be one tool to guarantee age appropriate experiences for the users of the metaverse
Children’s right to non-discrimination (https://www.childrens-rights.digital/background/detail/material/1722) must be respected in the virtual environment in order to avoid a global metaverse divide
Analyze existing regulation in regard of applying them to the metaverse and try to close the gaps
Stop focusing on child protection and follow an approach balanced with their rights to provision and participation