Child rights and responsible technology
Fostering responsible business conduct to protect and empower children in the digital age.
Children, or everyone under the age of 18, make up an estimated one in three internet users globally. The digital world provides children with unprecedented opportunities, while also exposing them to online risks and potential harms that require dedicated efforts to understand and address.
Governments, parents and caregivers, educators, civil society, and children and young people themselves have a role to play in shaping a safe and positive digital environment for children. As the providers of digital products and services, the actions of businesses are a critical component of these efforts.
Every business has the responsibility to respect children’s rights in the digital environment and can seize opportunities to support child rights and well-being through their products and services.
Meeting this responsibility requires businesses to robustly integrate child rights within their human rights due diligence processes, including taking active steps to account for how child rights impacts in the digital environment are addressed.
Getting Started
This remote self-led learning package developed by UNICEF in collaboration with ITU includes four introductory modules spanning foundational child rights and business knowledge in relation to the digital environment.
If your company develops or deploys digital technologies, these modules will support you to better understand how child rights intersect with your company's responsibilities, potential risks and harms for children to think about in your daily operations, and ideas of where to go next on your child rights journey.
UNICEF's response
Grounded in General Comment 25 on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, UNICEF collaborates with businesses, governments, and civil society to promote responsible business conduct in the digital age. Through advocacy, partnerships, and guidance, UNICEF seeks to drive efforts to embed child rights considerations within digital business activities and deliver a digital world that works for children.
