In the Periphery: Ethical Considerations When Indirectly Involving Children in Research

In the last decade, there has been an increased focus on child protection cases in the European Court of Human Rights. The heightened attention on child protection underscores the actuality of children's rights, rendering it an interesting area for researchers in fields such as children's rights, child protection, or international relations. All judgments from the Court are public. Research on social media data has shown that public data is not necessarily intended for the public. Moreover, in child protection cases, the child is rarely a part of the case. It is the biological parents against the domestic authorities. Nevertheless, the situation the case revolves around includes the child, making the child an indirect part of the judgment. There is little research on the ethical considerations of indirectly involving children in research on court judgments. However, there is abundant research on ethical considerations in researching public data, specifically social media data. By drawing on research on ethical considerations in the use of social media data, this article delves into the ethical consequences of including children indirectly in research. The article pinpoints crucial areas that require special attention from researchers and provides insights on navigating ethical challenges effectively.