Principle 5:responsible

Responsible digital governance and innovation means policy makers and businesses should keep up with ethical, rights-based and legal frameworks and guidance so that children’s digital lives are enabled and empowered by design.1 The principle of responsibility emphasises that relevant stakeholders (or, in child rights language, ‘duty bearers’) should: • Know of and comply with laws, regulations, industry standards and other measures to ensure the realisation of children’s rights. • Provide children with accessible and safe pathways to meaningful remedies if things go wrong. Navigating the complex legal, regulatory and standards landscape applicable to digital products and services can be daunting. A Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) is a commonly used tool in policymaking processes to be sure of anticipating the likely impact of a product or service on children. It follows eight practical steps, and is now being adapted and applied to the digital environment by a growing number of states and businesses (Mukherjee et al., 2021).