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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: 

  • The right to remove: Every child and young person should have the right to easily edit or delete all content they have created.  
  • The right to know: Children and young people have the right to know who is holding or profiting from their information, what their information is being used for and whether it is being copied, sold or traded.  
  • The right to safety and support: Children and young people should be confident that they will be protected from illegal practices and supported if confronted by troubling or upsetting scenarios online.  
  • The right to informed and conscious use: Children and young people should be empowered to reach into creative places online, but at the same time have the capacity and support to easily disengage.  
  • The right to digital literacy: To access the knowledge that the internet can deliver, children and young people need to be taught the skills to use, create and critique digital technologies, and given the tools to negotiate changing social norms  

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.