Children’s Voices Shaping the Future of the Internet: Check out the Child Rights Safety toolkit developed by 5Rights in consultation with children

by Aebha Curtis

On Monday 16th May, the TrustElevate team joined the 5Rights Foundation’s international launch event of their Child Online Safety Toolkit.

The online event was an inspiring occasion, calling upon such figures as Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and Mikiko Otani, the Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child as well as some truly inspiring young voices.

The four 5Rights Young Advocates spoke stirringly about the double edged sword which the digital world, particularly that of social media, represents. Tarique Kenny, one of the Young Advocates, described how the internet had been of great benefit to him and, in particular, his career by facilitating the broadcast of his radio show. Other Young Advocates acknowledged the doors that access to the internet can unlock for youth globally but emphasised the negative impact it has had, and continues to have, on young people’s mental health.

As Prince Harry said, “We want all children to feel empowered to speak up and demand change. We’re at a critical moment where it will take all of us for children to thrive in the digital world.” The 5Rights Foundation’s launch event certainly offered a vital platform for young people to have their voices heard at the inflection point we find ourselves at now.

Indeed, it has never been more vital that policymakers, practitioners and all relevant stakeholders are equipped with the appropriate tools to ensure that children’s rights are considered at every stage of product development, design and deployment. Companies are increasingly being called upon to demonstrate this level of consideration and exercise a duty of care to the standard that would be expected in offline contexts.

We have moved past the era of self-regulation. Gone are the days where companies could set their own policies about the content, contact, conduct and contractual conditions of their digital spaces. The landmark shifts in legislation, regulatory attitudes and public opinion of recent years have led to what we are seeing now: a world in which companies are being held to account for what is happening on their platforms and being compelled to exercise a duty of care towards children and young people online, a group which has been majorly underserved until now. And their role in the shifting of public opinion is not to be downplayed.

Children and young people are mobilising and have fought to have their voices heard. Many of them have grown up with the internet, are ‘digital natives’, and have more insight than anyone else, perhaps, into the hold that digital spaces have on their lives and those of their peers. It is their world that major online companies are shaping on a day-to-day basis and it is their voices which are now, in turn, calling for change, through multiple avenues — public advocacy and via dedicated channels developed by 5Rights, the Stronger Together Online campaign, UNICEF and many others.

In this context, one can see the value of tools like the Child Online Safety Toolkit and TrustElevate’s Child Rights Impact Assessment in fulfilling both regulatory requirements and the demands of consumers. A helpful parallel might be drawn with a Data Protection Impact Assessment, an essential tool in data protection regulation compliance but also in establishing trust and accountability with users.

Building a sustainable future for our children will involve accountability and transparency via continuous assessment and improvement of our digital environments with the best interests of children as a key priority. Tools like the 5Rights Foundation’s Child Online Safety Toolkit and the Child Rights Impact Assessment are essential in providing practical steps to protecting children from the design stage and beyond.

The Child Online Safety Toolkit has included 5 things every policymaker should consider:

• Identifying risk and mitigating harm
• Promoting access, accessibility and inclusion
• Building a chain of responsibility
• Integrating child-centred design
• Ensuring effectiveness

Each of these represent an important step in ensuring the development of a digital environment in which children’s needs and rights are respected. This is not just window-dressing, lawmakers are working toward ensuring regulators can ensure that companies are held to account.. Creating a safe, inclusive and accountable digital ecosystem is a big task but it is one that will enable future generations to flourish both online and offline.

To read the Child Online Safety Toolkit, click here. To learn more about TrustElevate’s Child Rights Impact Assessment, click here. If you would like to ensure your voice is heard in the fight against online harms, click here to join our #StrongerTogetherOnline campaign.