UNESCO and CODATA launch resources on open science for crisis response

Crisis data policy must balance openness with responsibility. Clear governance assigns accountable data stewards, decision rights, and escalation pathways. Legal bases and safeguards should be documented for collection, processing, sharing, and retention, with particular attention to cross-border transfers, data protection, confidentiality, and security.

Ethical commitments should reference widely used frameworks: FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), which ensures data can be effectively discovered and used; CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics), which focuses on Indigenous data rights and equitable governance; and TRUST (Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability, Technology). These principles, together with the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, emphasize transparency to the public, proportionality in data use, community engagement, and duty of care, especially for vulnerable and at-risk groups.