Cellphones and the Right to Privacy of Minors

The facts of the case are as follows: A defendant charged with sexually abusing a 17 year-old girl motioned to annul the victim’s mother’s testimony — as well as any act resulting from that testimony — on the grounds that it stemmed from an unauthorized search of the alleged victim’s cellphone conducted without her consent. It was demonstrated that the girl’s mother searched her daughter’s cellphone after the girl left home without telling her mother where she was going. In an attempt to locate her daughter, the mother searched the cellphone and found evidence of that her child had potentially been sexually abused. 

In light of those facts, the Court of Appeals held that the minor’s right to privacy had not been affected, as section 16 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child only forbids arbitrary and unlawful interferences in the private life of children, which was not the case.

Furthermore, the Court added that it had not been demonstrated that the mother had exceeded the scope of her rights as the girl’s legal guardian, as she had only searched the cellphone because she did not have any information as to her daughter’s whereabouts.

Therefore, the Court of Appeals deemed the mother’s behavior as justified under those circumstances while also taking into consideration the fact that the minor had not objected to the search.