Skip to main content

Global

5Rights works across the globe to raise awareness of children’s internationally-established rights and fight for their robust and coherent implementation, so all children are safe and can thrive. 

Contents

Overview

Children everywhere use the same tech, face the same problems, and have the same rights. A global, equitable, solution is needed. From the UN to the African Union, from Jakarta to Buenos Aires and Ottawa, a coherent body of global standards and best practices is taking shape with our support.

“Every young person from each part of the world including the Global South needs access to a safe, inclusive, and empowering digital environment”

Aminah, 13

Children’s experiences

Globally, one in three internet users is under 18. Nearly 2.5 billion children are growing up in a world where the boundaries of the physical and the digital are increasingly blurred. Although the digital divide remains real and a concern, research around the world consistently shows that children are spending large amounts of time online, with three out of five spending more than two hours daily just on social media, and around half of children online fearing that they are addicted to the internet. Using global platforms and services, their experience is similar. They regularly encounter disturbing content and behaviour and often feel unsafe; more than half experience online sexual harms. The risks are compounded for the most vulnerable, notably girls, LGBTQI+ children, ethnic minorities and those with disabilities.

Our work across the World

Working with children and partners around the world, we support policy-makers and regulators at the global, regional and national levels in their implementation of children’s established rights, ensuring that platforms and services are age-appropriate by design and default, so children everywhere can thrive. Our efforts include supporting Canadian, Indonesian and Argentinian policy-makers to incorporate best practices into law, collaborating with the African Union in creating the region’s groundbreaking Child Online Safety and Empowerment Policy, and consistently advocating for coherent global standards at the United Nations.