3.3 Raising Awareness
Allocation of resources on data collection systems should be intertwined with raising
awareness among professionals of the value of administrative data, including data sharing.
Even when an appropriate legal framework is in place, State agencies might adopt their own
policies that restrict access to administrative records – usually due to confidentiality, public
safety or national security concerns.44 Thus, raising awareness in public administration
circles should aim at achieving better understanding that sharing data and maintaining
the highest standards of data confidentiality are not mutually exclusive. At the same time,
policies should be aiming at instilling a culture of information stewardship rather than
information ownership.45
Awareness-raising efforts should address the need for releasing administrative data
into the public domain (so-called Open Data).46 Although release of datasets containing
personal information, even when data are anonymised, remains questionable in the context
of privacy protection47, States should release data about the performance of relevant State
agencies – child justice authorities, social welfare institutions and migration authorities
(e.g. number of children residing in State-run or State-authorised institutions). In addition,
States should engage in proactive dissemination of information on the performance of
these agencies and facilitate access to administrative records by designing user-friendly
data platforms.
Last but not least, the threefold framework described above should be implemented in line
with the principle of child participation. This requires that children’s voices are taken into
account at every stage of designing data collection mechanisms – during the consultations
within legislative procedures, when allocating resources, designing tools for officers
responsible for data collection and analysing data on children. In the following section of
the Study, the perspectives of children are incorporated into a chapter dedicated to their
perceptions of detention – an aspect frequently overlooked in the process of designing
data collection frameworks.48 Similarly, the section also points to the lack of clear data sets
and administrative records with regard to the disability, gender and health implications
faced by children deprived of liberty.49
44 Tung-Mou Yang & Terrence A. Maxwell, ‘Information-sharing in public organizations: A literature review of interpersonal, intraorganizational and inter-organizational success factors’, Government Information Quarterly, Vol. 28(2), 2011, pp. 164–175.
45 Ibid.
46 Joseph A. Cannataci, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, A/72/43103, 19 October 2017, paras. 77-87.
47 Joseph A. Cannataci, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, A/73/45712, 17 October 2018, para. 67.
48 See Chapter 5 on Views and Perspectives of Children Deprived of Liberty.
49 See also Chapters 6, 7 & 8.
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