Our Story

5Rights Foundation, the brainchild of Baroness Beeban Kidron, started as a set of principles that would reimagine the digital world as a place children and young people were afforded their existing right to participate in the digital world creatively, knowledgeably and fearlessly. 

The original 5Rights Framework identified 5 key rights that children wanted to see applied as a priority in the digital environment. Those were the right to remove, the right to know, the right to safety and support, the right to informed and conscious use and the right to digital literacy. As the discourse on children’s rights in the digital environment evolved, our framework has adapted to include five areas of inter-connected concerns:

• The right to privacy: Children have the right to a high level of privacy by design and default. They should be protected from surveillance, profiling and commercial practices that exploit their data and expose them to risk. 

• The right to safety: Children have the right to a high level of safety and security by design and default, and to support in case of need. They should be protected from illegal practices as well as harmful content, contacts and conduct. They should benefit from access to support and redress.

• The right to development: Children have the right to explore, play and learn in an environment which allows each and every child to develop to their full potential. They should be empowered to grow and thrive.

• The right to agency: Children have the right to fair, informed and conscious interaction with digital technology. They should be protected from addictive, persuasive, manipulative or deceptive practices that distort their beliefs, behaviours or actions, and empowered to exert their full agency and develop independent and critical thinking.

• The right to participation: Children have the right to participate and be heard in all debates and decisions that affect their experience of the digital environment and the enjoyment of their rights.

Endorsed and informed by academics, parents, policy makers, teachers and healthcare professionals, these principles were also shaped by what children and young people told us they needed from the digital world to thrive. 

In 2018, 5Rights developed from an idea into an organisation, with three areas of work: privacy and children’s data protection; safety and child-centered design of service; and the enabling of children’s rights as a whole.  

Now an internationally active non-governmental, non-profit charitable organisation, 5Rights Foundation has offices in London and Brussels. 5Rights US is a joint project together with our partner Reset.