Side event: Digitalisation and the child’s right to identity – a tool for inclusion or exclusion?
REGISTRATION
OVERVIEW
Date: 08:30 – 09:45 a.m., 2 March 2026
Audience: This side event is intended for policymakers and practitioners alike, including Member States, national human rights institutions, civil society, and representatives of United Nations entities.
Registration link: via Zoom as per invite
Location: Centre d’Accueil de la Genève Internationale (CAGI), La Pastorale Route de Ferney 106, 1202 Genève
Format: Hybrid (Zoom)
Length: 90 minutes
Digitalisation is one key accelerator for universal birth registration and ensuring that every child has a nationality. International human rights law provides a framework for using and regulating digital technologies in these contexts including the need to uphold the rights to privacy, non-discrimination, participation, freedom of expression, access to information, and accountability. This framework is essential for ensuring safe and inclusive use of digital technologies.
Digitalisation alone is, however, not the solution for achieving the child’s right to identity. 2025, was a year of increased attention to these issues with various reports, learnings and recommendations for a sustainable human rights-based approach to digitalisation. This side events considers these reports to demonstrate and help understand:
- What is digitalisation for inclusive identity within the wider digital public infrastructure?
- How may digitalisation lead to exclusion of certain groups of children?
- What digitalisation practices are promising and human rights based?
Opening remarks
- Ambassador Francisca Méndez, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN Office in Geneva
Panel :
- Bhaskar Mishra, Child protection specialist, UNICEF (moderator)
- Helen Griffiths, Human Rights Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Professor Philip Jaffé, Vice-Chairperson United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Sabrina Gahar, Chairperson African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
- ATD Fourth World
Closing remarks (tbc)
Date: 08:30 – 09:45 h, 2 mars 2026
Public : Cet événement parallèle s’adresse aussi bien aux décideurs politiques qu’aux praticiens, notamment aux États membres, aux institutions nationales des droits de l’homme, à la société civile et aux représentants des entités des Nations Unies.
Lien d’inscription : via Zoom, conformément à l’invitation
Lieu : Centre d’Accueil de la Genève Internationale (CAGI), La Pastorale Route de Ferney 106, 1202 Genève
Format : hybride (Zoom)
Durée : 90 minutes
La numérisation est un facteur clé pour accélérer l’enregistrement universel des naissances et garantir que chaque enfant ait une nationalité. Le droit international relatif aux droits humains fournit un cadre pour l’utilisation et la réglementation des technologies numériques dans ces contextes, y compris la nécessité de respecter les droits à la vie privée, à la non-discrimination, à la participation, à la liberté d’expression, à l’accès à l’information et à la responsabilité. Ce cadre est essentiel pour garantir une utilisation sûre et inclusive des technologies numériques.
La numérisation seule ne suffit toutefois pas à garantir le droit de l’enfant à l’identité. L’année 2025 a été marquée par une attention accrue portée à ces questions, avec la publication de divers rapports, enseignements et recommandations en faveur d’une approche durable de la numérisation fondée sur les droits humains. Cette manifestation parallèle s’appuie sur ces rapports pour démontrer et aider à comprendre :
- Quel est le rôle de la numérisation dans la promotion d’une identité inclusive au sein de l’infrastructure publique numérique au sens large ?
- Comment la numérisation peut-elle conduire à l’exclusion de certains groupes d’enfants ?
- Quelles sont les pratiques de numérisation prometteuses et fondées sur les droits humains ?
Allocutions d’ouverture :
- Mme Francisca Méndez, ambassadrice et représentante permanente du Mexique auprès de l’Office des Nations Unies à Genève
Panel :
- M. Bhaskar Mishra, spécialiste de la protection de l’enfance, UNICEF (modérateur)
- Mme Helen Griffiths, responsable des droits de l’homme, Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l’homme
- Professeur Philip Jaffé, vice-président du Comité des droits de l’enfant des Nations Unies
- Hon. Sabrina Gahar, présidente du Comité africain d’experts sur les droits et le bien-être de l’enfant
- ATD Quart Monde
Discours de clôture (à confirmer)
Fecha: 2 de marzo 2026; 08:30 a.m. – 09:45 a.m.
Público: Este evento paralelo está dirigido tanto a desarrolladores de políticas públicas como a profesionales, entre ellos los Estados Miembros, los órganos nacionales de derechos humanos, la sociedad civil y los representantes de organismos de las Naciones Unidas.
Registro: Vía Zoom por invitación
Ubicación: Centre d’Accueil de la Genève Internationale (CAGI), La Pastorale, 106 route de Ferney, 1202 Ginebra, Suiza
Formato: Híbrido (Zoom)
Duración: 90 minutos
La digitalización es un acelerador clave para el registro universal de nacimientos y para garantizar que todas las niñas, los niños y los adolescentes tengan una nacionalidad. El derecho internacional de los derechos humanos ofrece un marco para el recurso a y la regulación de las tecnologías digitales en estos contextos, incluida la necesidad de defender los derechos a la privacidad, la no discriminación, la participación, la libertad de expresión, el acceso a la información y la rendición de cuentas. Este marco es esencial para garantizar un uso seguro e inclusivo de las tecnologías digitales.
Sin embargo, la digitalización por sí sola no es la solución para lograr el derecho de las niñas, los niños y los adolescentes a la identidad. El año 2025 fue un año en el que se prestó mayor atención a estas cuestiones, con diversos informes, aprendizajes y recomendaciones para un enfoque sostenible en la digitalización basado en los derechos humanos. Este evento paralelo tiene en cuenta estos informes para demostrar y ayudar a comprender:
- ¿Qué es la digitalización para la identidad inclusiva dentro de la infraestructura pública digital más amplia?
- ¿Cómo puede la digitalización conducir a la exclusión de ciertos grupos de niños, niñas y adolescentes?
- ¿Qué prácticas de digitalización son prometedoras y se basan en los derechos humanos?
Intervención de apertura
- Embajadora Francisca Méndez, Representante Permanente de México ante la Oficina de la ONU en Ginebra
Ponentes:
- Bhaskar Mishra, Especialista en Protección a la Niñez, UNICEF (moderador)
- Helen Griffiths, Oficial de Derechos Humanos, Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos
- Philip Jaffé, Vice-Presidente, Comité de los Derechos del Niño de las Naciones Unidas
- Sabrina Gahar, Presidenta, Comité Africano de Expertos y Expertas sobre los Derechos y el Bienestar del Niño
- ATD Cuarto Mundo
Observaciones y conclusión (por confirmar)
Ambassador Francisca Méndez
Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN Office in Geneva
Ambassador Méndez was born in Mexico City. She entered the Diplomatic Service of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1991. She graduated as a BSc in Political Sciences and Public Administration and a MSc in Latin American Studies from the Mexican National Autonomous University (UNAM). She obtained her second MSc in Law and Economics from the Milan State University in Italy. She has diplomas in international politics, public diplomacy and Arab studies, the latter with professors from the University of Oxford.
In the Mexican Foreign Service Headquarters, Ambassador Méndez worked in the Department of Political Affairs and the Caribbean, in the Directorate for United Nations and in the Directorate for Global Affairs.
She was a Deputy Counselor in the Consulates in Milan and Barcelona. In the latter, she spent a year and a half in charge of the Consulate. Following these postings, Ambassador Méndez was Deputy Head of Mission in Romania, Costa Rica and Spain where she ended her assignment as Chargé affairs for eight months. Her last international assignment, she acted as Deputy Head of Mission for European Union, Kingdom of Belgium and Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg.
She has served as Director General for American Regional Organizations and Mechanisms and served as National Coordinator of Mexico in the Pacific Alliance, in the Ibero-American Summit and in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and also as Special Advisor to the Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean in business and educational matters.
From January 2017 to February 2022, she served as Ambassador of Mexico in the United Arab Emirates, being the first Mexican woman from the SEM accredited in a country of the Arabian Gulf, where she also participated in Iraq and represented before the International Energy Agency. Renewables based in Abu Dhabi. She was awarded by the Emirati Government with the highest distinction “First Class Independence Decoration”.
Since February 2022, Ambassador Méndez has been Permanent Representative in the Mission of Mexico to the United Nations and International Organizations based in Geneva.
Throughout her career, she has represented Mexico in more than three hundred meetings in multilateral and regional forums and has been characterized by her ability to negotiate and create consensus. In the Representations where she has been, Ambassador Méndez has carried out intense work of economic, cultural and cooperation promotion.
She has given several conferences and written articles on Mexican foreign policy, sustainable development, gender equality, people with disabilities, multilateralism, among others. She edited the book “The headquarters of the Mexican Embassy in Costa Rica: testimony of a solid and constructive relationship” and is the author of the e-book “The links between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean: History and perspective of regional integration”.
In November 2022 she presented her book at the FIL in Guadalajara “Why Fer doesn’t want to grow?”, which talks about autism. She has been very active in issues of gender equality and people with disabilities.
Her native language is Spanish and she speaks English, French and Italian.
She is married to Jan-Jilles van der Hoeven and has two children, Francisca, 31, and Fernando, 30.
Bhaskar Mishra
Child protection specialist, UNICEF (moderator)
Bhaskar Mishra works as the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics and Legal Identity Specialist with UNICEF HQ, New York. He also supports UNICEF’s work on the UN Legal Identity Agenda. From 2016 to 2021, Bhaskar worked with the UNICEF Tanzania CO as the Child Protection Specialist for Birth & Death Registration, supporting the Government of Tanzania in scaling up the simplified birth and death registration system. Previously, Bhaskar worked as the Deputy Registrar General responsible for implementing India’s birth and death registration system.
Helen Griffiths
Human Rights Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Biography will be added once received.
Professor Philip Jaffé
Vice-Chairperson United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
Philip D. Jaffé est professeur honoraire à l’Université de Genève. Il a cofondé son Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant et l’a dirigé de 2008 à 2019. En 2018, il est élu au Comité des droits de l’enfant des Nations Unies et il accomplit son deuxième mandat jusqu’en 2027. Psychologue clinicien et forensique, formé en Suisse et aux USA, il exerce encore comme psychothérapeute et expert aux tribunaux. Sa vision professionnelle a toujours été de servir la société civile comme scientifique praticien.
