Bridging the Digital Divide for Children: a Global Call to Action
Later this month, global leaders will gather to sign a Pact for the Future and commit to a new vision to address emerging challenges, including those posed by new and existing technologies. The Global Digital Compact, in particular, sets out principles, objectives and actions to build an “open, free, secure and human-centred digital future for all”.
As part of this process, stakeholders – from governments to the private sector to civil society and youth – have been involved in consultations to provide feedback to the draft of the Global Digital Compact. A new version has been presented earlier in July and discussed in late August.
Why the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Needs to Be Upheld in the Digital Age
In our recent input to the consultation, we welcomed the emphasis on children’s rights within the Compact, particularly the reference to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the commitment to strengthening national policy frameworks for protecting children and their rights in the revised version of the Compact. We strongly recommend that the final text retains these crucial references.
As highlighted in our joint submission to the consultation last year, in a world where the line between online and offline lives is becoming increasingly blurred, we must ensure that the rights and protections that children have long held under the UNCRC apply fully in the digital environment.
In this context, we hope to see a strong Global Digital Compact that promotes, protects and implements children’s rights in the digital environment. Only by reinforcing the global commitment to upholding children’s rights as outlined in the UNCRC and its General comment 25, the Compact will be able to deliver on its promise to create a better, safer, and more rights-respecting online world for all children.
Just another aspect of the digital divide
When we talk about digital divide, we often refer to differences within and between countries in areas such as digital literacy, internet access or use of sophisticated devices. However, the lack of legislation specifically addressing children’s safety online, privacy and data protection is another aspect of the digital divide.
Unfortunately, just a handful of countries have adopted rules and legislation to ensure children and young people are safe online. Safety, security and privacy should not vary according to a child’s geographical location.
This gap in child online safety, data protection, privacy, ownership, governance, and security is part of the broader digital divide and requires a global approach and commitment. We call on world leaders to endorse and commit to strengthening the policy framework for protecting children and their rights and to implementing explicitly the parts of the Global Digital Compact that are related to children.
As the Summit of the Future draws near, we reiterate our call to strengthen the Compact for children. By including explicit references to the UNCRC and its General comment 25, the Global Digital Compact will be able to achieve what is originally set out to do: build an open, free, secure digital future for all, including children.
