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Privacy policy

and confidentiality policy.

Privacy policy for petitions addressed to UNICEF

This privacy statement for petitions addressed to UNICEF is part of UNICEF's general privacy statement, where you will find more details about how UNICEF protects your information and, more specifically, how we use these and other tracking tools. 

Before you sign a petition, you should know what information we will keep private and what information we will make public. 

UNICEF believes it is important for makers to hear from UNICEF supporters about the main development challenges children and their families face. A good way to influence decision makers is to share with them the results of petitions and other similar actions. 

To achieve results, it is important to show that there are real people behind these petitions. For that reason, when you sign a petition, we treat your name as public information that we can share with decision makers. We are also making this information public on our website to encourage like-minded people to show their support by signing the petition. If you wish to protect your anonymity, please refrain from signing the petition. 

We will, however, never publicly disclose your email address, phone number, or any other information you share with us. 

 

If you checked the box to receive more information 

If you checked the box to receive more information about UNICEF's work, such as the progress of this initiative, fundraising appeals and other ways to help children, UNICEF will use the information you provide to contact you about issues we think might interest you. We can do this directly or through one of UNICEF's partner organizations in your country. 

If you did not check the box to receive more information, we will not share your information with anyone else, and will only contact you (if necessary) for administrative reasons. 

 

If you are under 13 years old 

If you are under 13 years old, do not provide us with your personal information or sign the petition. Our petitions are not intended for children under 13 years of age, and we do not expressly request information of any kind from children under 13 years of age. 

 

We might receive information about children under 13 years of age due to error or fraud. If we are notified, we will promptly verify it, seek immediate parental consent, or otherwise delete the information from our systems. If you wish to let us know we are receiving information from children under 13 years of age, please contact us. 

Authorized agents 

We may share your information with selected agents or service providers, such as third-party contractors whose work is maintaining our websites, for the sole purpose of helping us do our job. These partners will act exclusively at our request and will not use your information for their own purposes. 

If you do not want us to contact you again or store your information 

As stated above, when you sign a petition, we treat your name as public information. That information cannot be removed from the petition. 

If, however, you would like us to delete other personally identifiable information from our systems, or if you checked the box for us to send you more information but changed your mind and wish to unsubscribe, please contact us. Our policy is to retain a minimum amount of information about you after you unsubscribe, just to ensure that your decision is recorded. 

Follow-up 

UNICEF websites use cookies and other tracking tools to collect statistics that help us give you the best experience on our websites and display relevant promotions, communications and requests on other websites you might visit. You can find more information on our cookie policy page or disable cookies if you prefer. Please note that if you continue browsing our pages without changing your settings, you are giving your consent for us to use your cookies and other tracking tools.

 

Confidentiality policy 

Internet user privacy is of paramount importance to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). This privacy statement describes UNICEF's policy regarding the collection and sharing of information about visitors to UNICEF website. This applies to all ‘UNICEF sites’, that is, all sites under the domain name ‘unicef.org’. Users should know that through this site they can access or be directed to other sites related to UNICEF, such as https://help.unicef.org/gt/dona  or the sites of our national committees (the private charitable organizations whose work supports UNICEF around the world). All these sites have their own privacy statements, which are similar to this one but may vary slightly. By visiting the UNICEF website, you agree to accept the practices described in this policy. 

What type of information does UNICEF collect? 

Ordinary use of the website 


In general, users can browse the UNICEF site without revealing their identity or any other personal information. The only data we collect during a general visit is the standard server log. This includes the internet protocol address, domain name, browser type, operating system and other information such as the website that referred the user to us, the files she or he downloads, the pages she or he visits and the dates and times of those visits. 

 

Collection of personal data  

When a user signs up to receive a newsletter, access certain UNICEF sites, order a book or other merchandise, request information, provide feedback, apply for a job, join a discussion group or email list, she or he will be asked to provide personal information such as name, postal address and email address. This information is only collected with the user’s knowledge and authorization and is kept in various UNICEF databases. If the user purchases a product on the web, she or he may be asked for credit card information.  

 

UNICEF sites that specifically request personal data may publish their own privacy policy. This policy will be complementary to the general UNICEF privacy policy but will provide additional information regarding the site in question. 

 

“UNICEF websites use cookies to collect statistics to help us give you the best possible experience on our websites. You can learn more here or, if you prefer, you can also disable the cookies. However, if you continue to use our sites without changing the settings, you will be giving us your consent to use your cookies.” 

 

A user's participation in electronic discussion groups means that other participants in the discussion group (including people who are not UNICEF employees) will see the personal information that the user has voluntarily provided. In open discussion groups, this information will be public. 

 

Special note on information about boys and girls 

Several sites in the UNICEF domain focus on children, including interactive sites such as discussion groups. Some of these groups require specific information, which users must provide to UNICEF. In this case we request basic personal information. 

 

These areas of the UNICEF site are intended for children only, and unauthorized adults do not participate in these areas of the UNICEF site. (Obtaining user information helps us in this regard, if necessary.) 

 

Children should ensure that their parents, or the adults who care for them, know that they are participating in UNICEF sites and that they have provided us with this limited user information. 

 

WHAT DOES UNICEF DO WITH THE INFORMATION IT COLLECTS? 

 

Ordinary use of the website 

The information collected during general browsing of the domain ‘unicef.org’ is used to analyse trends and usage of the UNICEF site and to improve its usefulness. It does not contain any personal data. If the user has registered with UNICEF for any activity on the UNICEF site, however, the information we collect about normal website usage will identify that user. 

 

Personally identifiable information 

UNICEF may use the personal data provided by the user to: 

 

  • Contact the interested party regarding a question or suggestion, or send her or him newsletters, documents, publications, etc. We can also provide the information to national committees for UNICEF for them to contact the user; 
  • Process a job application; 
  • Confirm your purchases and registrations on the site; 
  • Charge for purchases made through the site (via credit card) 
  • ‘Remember’ your online profile and preferences; 
  • Help you quickly find information that interests you and allow us to make the content of the site respond to your needs; 
  • Perform statistical analyses. 

 

What happens if the user does not want to provide personal data? 

Providing personal data on the UNICEF site is optional. If a user chooses not to do so, she or he will be able to continue browsing and using the UNICEF site, but will not be able to, for example, purchase items, subscribe to a newsletter or apply for a job. 

 

Voluntary exclusion and modification of data 

The user can at any time delete or modify the data provided by returning to the website on which she or he first communicated them and contacting the person in charge of that site or the relevant UNICEF department. If the site does not indicate where to go, you can write us at ‘contact us’ for more information. 

 

Security 

UNICEF does not sell or share with third parties any personally identifiable information voluntarily posted on its website without prior user consent. However, we do share full and partial user information with our national committees so that the entire UNICEF family can respond to your needs. All the information provided to UNICEF by users of the site is kept with the greatest possible care and security and will only be used in accordance with what is stated in this privacy policy, or in the policies of each site, or as the user has expressly authorized. UNICEF employs a range of technologies and security measures to protect information kept on its systems against loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration or destruction. 

 

UNICEF, however, assumes no liability for the security of information. 

 

The UNICEF website has links to sites outside the unicef.org domain. UNICEF is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such sites. 

 

Change notification 

Any changes to this privacy policy will be posted on the UNICEF homepage at https://www.unicef.org/. 

 

Contact point 

For questions or queries regarding this privacy policy, please contact us at ‘contact us’ by entering the word ‘privacy’ in the subject. 

 

*Cookies: a cookie is a small set of data that is sent from a web server to the user's browser. It is generally used to assign a unique ID to your computer and securely store data such as user ID, passwords, preferences and online profiles. It is stored on your computer's hard drive. If a user does not want UNICEF sites to send her or him cookies, she or he can change her or his browser settings. Other websites may send their own cookies to a user’s computer. To protect user privacy, her or his browser only allows a website to access the cookies it has already sent her or him, not those sent by other sites. 

 

Data disclosure policy 

1. This guideline establishes the information disclosure policy of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). 

 

Aim 

2. UNICEF is committed to making information about its programmes and operations available to the public. UNICEF considers public access to information a key component of the effective participation of all stakeholders, including the public, in achieving its mandate. UNICEF recognizes that there is a positive correlation between transparency, including information sharing, and public trust in UNICEF-supported development work and humanitarian response. 

 

3. The Executive Board is responsible for UNICEF’s management, is composed of Member States of the United Nations and is part of the Economic and Social Council of the UN. UNICEF management believes that public access to information further promotes UNICEF's transparency and accountability. 

 

4. This information disclosure policy (the ‘Policy’) is intended to ensure that information relating to UNICEF programmes and operations is available to the public, subject to the limitations set out in this Policy. As stated in the Report on the UNICEF accountability system, UNICEF Executive Board document E/ICEF/2009/15 (‘Accountability Report’), "UNICEF will provide in an accessible, visible and understandable manner reliable and timely information on the conditions, decisions and actions relating to the activities of the organization, except when the information is considered confidential" (para. 14 g)). 

 

Definition of ‘information’ 

5. For the purposes of this Policy, ‘information’ means any content produced, regardless of the medium (paper, electronic or audio, visual or audiovisual), in relation to any matter that has to do with UNICEF policies, activities and decisions. 

 

Scope of the Policy  

 

6. This Policy applies to all information held by UNICEF. 

 

General principle of access to information 

 

7. Information should be accessible and disclosed, subject to the limitations established in this Policy. 

 

Information Accessibility 

 

8. Publicly accessible information will be made available, to the extent reasonably and practicable, on one or more publicly accessible UNICEF websites or United Nations System websites (such as publicly accessible websites maintained by a United Nations country team for a given country). Annex A contains a selected list of information now publicly available (or regularly available) through various means, including the UNICEF global website, individual UNICEF country office websites or United Nations country team websites. 

 

Restricted access to information 

9. The Policy does not apply to existing data that have not been processed in physical or electronic media. UNICEF is not able to respond to petitions that require the selection and/or manipulation of data to produce content. 

 

10. Confidential information is not subject to disclosure. The Accountability Report (para. 2), approved by the UNICEF Executive Board, requires that the following categories of information be classified as ‘confidential information’: 

 

Information received from third parties or sent to third parties, with the understanding that confidentiality will be maintained; 

Information that if disclosed may endanger a person's safety, violate her or his rights or invade her or his privacy; 

Information that if disclosed may endanger the security of a Member State or impair the security or proper execution of any operation or activity of the organisation; 

 

Information protected by legal privilege or regulatory actions, or that exposes the organization to unnecessary risk of litigation, or is related to internal audit reports or investigations; 

Internal office documents or communications among various offices, including emails and draft documents; 

Commercial information, when its disclosure would be detrimental to the financial interests of the organization or other interested parties; 

Information that if disclosed might, in the opinion of the organization, seriously undermine policy dialogue with Member States; or implementing partners. 

 

Other types of information that, because of its content or the circumstances in which it originated or was communicated, must be considered confidential. 

The definition of ‘confidential information’ should be understood to encourage as much disclosure as possible without violating this policy. 

 

11. If only part of the information responding to a particular disclosure request is subject to one of the limitations set out in this Policy, UNICEF may at its discretion decide whether to disclose the remaining part of the information relating to that request and will take appropriate measures to preserve the confidentiality of undisclosed information. 

 

12. Decisions of the UNICEF Executive Board, as well as other policies, procedures or practices of UNICEF or the United Nations, may contain limitations on the release of information. This includes, among others, UNICEF Executive Board decision 2009/8 on the disclosure of UNICEF internal audit reports to Member States only. Nothing contained in or linked to this Policy shall be deemed to condense, modify or abolish the application of those decisions of the UNICEF Executive Board, or other UNICEF or United Nations policies, procedures or practices. 

 

Privileges and immunities of the United Nations, including UNICEF 

13. Nothing contained in or having to do with to this Policy shall be deemed a waiver, express or implied, or otherwise, of any privileges and immunities of the United Nations, including its subsidiary organs, under the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. Without limiting the generality of the preceding sentence, the disclosure of information in response to a request shall not constitute a waiver, express or implied, or otherwise, of any privileges and immunities of the United Nations, including its subsidiary bodies, under the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. 

 

Handling of information requests 

 

14. Any person or organization may request the disclosure of non-confidential UNICEF information that is not otherwise available on publicly accessible UNICEF websites or United Nations System websites. 

 

15. Requests for information will be handled by the head of the relevant UNICEF regional or national office, division or office headquarters. All media inquiries will be handled by UNICEF communications staff. 

 

16. The UNICEF official responsible for handling a request for information that might be confidential should seek guidance from UNICEF legal counsel in the office of the Executive Director, New York headquarters and, if appropriate, the director of the Supply Division in Copenhagen (when the request relates to supplier relations or procurement matters) or the Director of the Human Resources Division at headquarters in New York (when the request relates to human resources matters). 

 

17. All requests for information will be processed in a timely manner. The applicant should expect to receive an acknowledgment of receipt of the petition within ten (10) business days (in New York). Depending on the complexity of the request, UNICEF will endeavour to handle all requests within thirty (30) days after receipt of the acknowledgment. For information requests that involve the reproduction of material, UNICEF may charge a fee for material and labour costs; this will be communicated to the requester and must be paid in advance. 

 

18. UNICEF may reject a request in whole or in part: 

 

  • in accordance with the limitations provided or referred to in this Policy; 
  • if UNICEF considers the request to be an excessive demand on UNICEF resources; or 
  • if the request appears frivolous in the opinion of UNICEF. 

 

19. If a request is denied, the applicant may request a review of the decision by letter addressed to the Deputy Director of Management of UNICEF. The Deputy Director of Management will review the processing of the request for information and determine how to proceed. Typically, such review is completed sixty (60) days after being requested. The result of the review will be communicated to the applicant, who may not demand a detailed explanation of the result of the review. 

 

Reproduction of information 

20. Implementation of this Policy will be subject to existing rules regarding intellectual property and other proprietary rights including, but not limited to, patents, copyrights and trademarks that may limit, inter alia, the right of a third party to reproduce or use the information. 

 

Languages 

 

21. This document will be available in UNICEF's working languages: English, Spanish and French. It might also be made available in the other official languages of the United Nations in the future. 

 

Disclaimer 

22. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or veracity of the information made available by UNICEF. The applicant will use the information made available by UNICEF with discretion. UNICEF will not be responsible for any direct or indirect damage arising from the use of the information. 

 

Final provisions 

23. The UNICEF Information Security Policy promulgated by guideline CF/EXD/2003/23 is hereby repealed. 

 

24. The Policy will enter into force on the date of publication of this guideline. 

 

16 September 2010