We all need to do more to protect our children

The ongoing prevalence of sexual harassment and bullying must be addressed.

Children have the right to be protected both online and offline. Over recent years, we have worked with European and international colleagues to ensure governments understand their obligations to keep children safe in the digital environment.

Online platforms themselves need to do much more to ensure children are safe online. Most have not been designed with children’s rights in mind and they are not doing enough to ensure children don’t get access to pornography and other harmful material.

Families play an important role and children have highlighted the value of parents having open and age-appropriate conversations with them about using digital devices and what they may experience online. The government should do more to ensure that parents have the information and support they need to have those conversations.

It’s important to focus on empowering children to understand their rights in digital spaces. That includes increasing their understanding of what constitutes harmful behaviour so they can spot things which are concerning, so they know what to do, and so they know where to get support.

Children have been calling for a better balance between protection from harm and nurturing the opportunities offered by having access to the online world. Such access can support their rights to education, to culture, to access information, and to recreation. For many children, their online and offline worlds are inseparable.

Children want to have a say in actions and decisions that affect them in the digital environment, and they want to be involved in designing safer spaces.