Being a Refugee Child in Lebanon: Implementing Young Children’s Rights in a Digital World through the Blockchain Educational Passport

Article 22 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and Articles 28 and 29 of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child state the rights of all children, including refugees, to meaningful and successful education. These rights include favourable treatment, the right to free primary education and the recognition of diplomas and certificates. While these fundamental rights are necessary, they no longer reflect the needs of a highly mobile population in an increasingly globalised world. The lack of any mention about digital identity in rights legislation is a serious shortcoming which inhibits children’s freedom ‘from’ discrimination, inequality of opportunities, and digital exploitation, and the freedom ‘to’ have a secure digital identity acknowledging their learning, skills and competencies throughout their lives. This chapter contributes to the current debate about the benefits and challenges of the digital future. It draws from the UN UNITE Global Challenge #BlockchainEducationalPassport to argue that new technologies can secure the right to education for all children and refugee children, in particular by creating an undeletable record of learning achievements, and that creating such a record during early childhood may optimise the benefit of early educational experiences for lifetime outcomes.