ADRH launches report on data privacy and trust

Africa Digital Rights Hub (ADRH), an international not-for-profit “think and action tank” institution that promotes Pan African research and capacity building on digital rights, has launched a report on findings of an online data privacy and trust survey conducted among a cross-section of young people including children in Ghana.

The research, carried out by ADRH in collaboration with Internet Society Foundation and Child Online Africa, and supported by Reset Tech Australia was in alignment with an international comparable study conducted in Antigua and Barbuda as well as Australia and Slovenia.

The research methodology approach was a focus group of activities involving young people using the internet, conducted in Accra, among 21 young people, mainly students aged between 13 to 17 years drawn from different educational institutions.

The Accra research was supplemented by a survey of 101 additional young people in different schools across Ghana.

Launching the report, a former Supreme Court Judge, Professor Justice S.K Date-Baah, expressed worry about the significant increase in what he termed as “data footprints” of children by data practitioners without protecting their rights.

“In Ghana, the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) under Section 37 (1) restricts the processing of personal data of children by designating their information. Similarly, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Africa Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, recognize that children have the right to be free from arbitrary interference of their privacy,” he remarked.

Prof. Date-Baah who also serves as the Chairman of ADRH Governing Board, called for a collaborative approach among institutions that relentlessly collates, collects, use, and analyzes personal data in the digital space to ensure the protection of the rights of children.

In a letter written for the attention of Ministers in charge of Education, Communication and Digitization, Information as well as Gender and Social Protection, two students, namely Thelma and Hallowed on behalf of Young People appealed for consideration of the rights, opinions, and privacy of children when formulating laws and regulatory policy frameworks concerning safeguarding their personal data and other vital information.

The Executive Director of ADRH, Teki Akuetteh disclosed that respondents were not sure if their privacy was respected in the digital world and were also uncertain whether institutions that collect, collate, and use data of children respect their privacy.

“Instead, the respondents wanted changes to policies regulating the digital world and evolve principles that would enable them to have more control over their personal information, to ensure enhanced security and transparency of their data privacy as well as increase awareness and enforcement of children's privacy in Ghana,” she emphasized.



The Lead Researcher of the Project, who also serves as the Executive Director of Child Online Africa, Ms. Awo Aidan Amenya, noted that globally, children and young people under 18 years constitute one-third of the world’s online users in the service of digital technology.

She said the respondents observed that a number of institutions are infringing on their privacy and rights through unlawful and irresponsible means of collecting and using their personal data.

“We need to make our own decisions on whether or not to share our personal information or decide what our data should be used for and how it should be used,” they contented.

Madam Awo Aidam Amenya urged relevant state regulatory institutions to put in place effective policy measures to curb the increasingly reckless violation of privacy rights within the online digital space.