(from left to right) H.E. Mr. Sofiene Hemissi, Minister of Communication Technologies, Tunisia; Dr. Sarah Alfaisal, Member of the Human Rights Commission, Kingdom auf Saudi-Arabia; Mr. Eugene Kaspersky, CEO Kaspersky; Mr. Syed Munir Khasru, Chairman of the Institute for Policy, Advocacy and Governance; Ms. Deepali Liberhan, Global Director of Safety Policy, Meta; Prof. Muhammad Khurram Khan, King Saud University, Kingdom auf Saudi-Arabia; H.E. Mr Andrej Zarentin, Deputy Minister of Digital development, Communications and Mass Media, Russia; Moderator: Marleni Cuellar, CEO Great Belize Productions / Channel 5
The High Level Session discussing “Children's Rights in the Digital World” is available on YouTube (57 min)
With only five high level sessions at the United Nations’ Internet Governance Forum this year in Riyadh, Saudi-Arabia we are excited children’s rights are featuring prominently under the theme “Advancing human rights and inclusion in the digital age” for the first time ever.
On Dec, 17th, a high level line-up of speakers was discussing how to protect children’s rights in the digital world.
As children increasingly navigate the digital landscape, ensuring their rights and well-being online has become a global priority. Thus, the focus of the debate in this high level session was on exploring the critical need for robust safeguards to protect children from online harms and on empowering them to safely benefit from digital opportunities.
While representatives from the tech companies, Deepali Liberhan and Eugene Kaspersky, elaborated on their technological approaches to child online safety, they also underlined the necessity of human intervention and moderation and Deepali referred to Meta’s best interest of the child framework. Then, Dr. Khasru referred to the revenue platform providers gain also from children being active users on their services and demanded a more active role from industry. “Because of fast technological innovation”, he said, “we are always trying to catch up, and regulation is always lagging behind.” Since from his point of view tech companies have a more active role to play, he suggested the UN should start scaling up regulation. Prof. Khan too, asked for predictive and proactive strategies instead of reactive measures when the harm to children is already done. Generative AI and further developments into Super AI need to be addressed properly and that would demand for cooperation of transnational organisations like the UN, ITU and G 27 for example, he said. In addition, he mentioned more research into the impact of developing technologies as a desiderata.
In response to the moderator’s question whether the quick uptake of new technologies by children is also an opportunity moment for us panelists agreed and stressed that children’s rights are an obligation and not an option. While Tunesian Minister Sofiene Hemissi explicitely underlined the role civil society organizations have to play in a multistakeholder approach, Dr. Alfaysal emphasized that together we have the power to make great impact! At the Digital Opportunities Foundation, we are taking this as a challenge and a mandate to strengthen our cooperation and further our advocating for children’s rights in the digital environment at the Internet Governance Forum and beyond.
Beyond the main stage of the IGF plenary session, the rights and interests of children were also discussed and debated in a variety of ways on the second day of the conference. In the Safe Digital Space for Children workshop, Afrooz Kaviani Johnson from UNICEF focussed on four aspects that are of particular importance, when it comes to the protection and safety of children in digital environments. Accordingly, all providers of digital services must be made responsible and obliged to align the design of their services with children's rights (child rights by design). A Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) could be used to check whether this is successful and where there is a need for improvement. In addition, all countries should examine whether and to what extent their legislation is keeping up with technological developments and the resulting opportunities and risks. If necessary, these should be reformed. Attention should then be paid to choosing approaches that are sustainable. In addition, UNICEF recommends that social services, support and counselling services and law enforcement agencies be provided with the necessary resources to offer young people guidance in dealing with possible critical moments and dangers, as well as support in criminal proceedings. Last but not least, parents and (educational) professionals should work together to reduce taboos and promote social discussion. This would be an important contribution to making it easier for young people to turn to the relevant support systems. Governments should support this through media literacy training and education.
The importance of educating adults and professionals on digital and media topics was also emphasised in the Navigating Online Safety for Children and Youth workshop. This is an essential basis for them to be able to support children and young people in their online experiences as a competent contact person. Relying solely on parental guidance mechanisms and parental control is no longer sufficient. Many adults are overwhelmed by the number of configuration options and the number of apps that accompany their children. This makes it impossible to achieve the intended protection. This makes it all the more important for providers to invest more in preventive settings so that all young people can participate safely. This is also relevant in the context of current discussions about possible bans on social media for young people under 16. The panel agreed that these would not be effective and that better outcomes in terms of protection and participation of young people online could be achieved through approaches that put the best interests of the child at the centre of service design.
With General Comment No. 25 on children's rights in relation to the digital environment, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child set a global standard in 2021 that provides important guidelines and guidance on how all children's rights can be balanced and realised equally in the digital world.