Protecting Children in the Digital Age – A Global Dialogue on Digital Safety
In an era where digital technology permeates every aspect of children’s lives, the digital threats impacting their safety have never been greater. The recent Digital Dialogue on Children’s Digital Safety, co-hosted by Safe Online, WHO, and UNICEF, brought together over 250 global stakeholders—governments, survivors and youth leaders, civil society, and experts—to transform commitments into tangible action. The dialogue served not only as a platform for sharing strategies but also as a call to action to maintain momentum from the first-ever global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence against Children in Bogota, Colombia in 2024.
A Moment for Reflection and Urgency
Opening the event, Sabine Rakotomalala, World Health Organization shared key objectives for the event -to offer a platform for stakeholders to share their implementation strategies and promote best practices across the pledges and to maintain the momentum for the next ministerial Conference that will take place at the end of 2026.
Speaking at the event, Serena Tommasino, Senior Technical and Advocacy Lead at Safe Online, reminded the audience that while the 2024 Bogota Conference laid a critical foundation, real protection depends on building strong structures on that foundation.
Serena detailed the vast scope of threats children face—ranging from grooming and cyberbullying to mental health challenges—all exacerbated by technologies like generative AI and immersive platforms. Despite Safe Online’s $100M+ investment across over 100 countries, she warned that funding remains dangerously insufficient. As a response, Safe Online, together with key partners, introduced a new coalition on Financing Safe Digital Futures, aiming to bring together donors, governments, and the private sector to catalyze sustainable investment and close the global funding gap.
Youth Voices Lead the Way
Marie Mokuba, representing the Global Youth-led Movement on Ending Violence Against Children, issued a strong plea for genuine inclusion of young people—not just in consultation, but at the core of policymaking. She stressed the need for including marginalised voices right from the start – at the data collection phase; intergenerational dialogue, and continuous feedback loops to ensure that digital safety solutions evolve alongside the technology they seek to regulate.
Survivor leader and advocacy lead at the Marie Collins Foundation, Rhiannon-Faye McDonald offered a deeply personal account of online grooming and abuse, underscoring the life-long trauma it can cause. “We wouldn’t build a playground full of broken glass and blame the child for getting hurt. So why do we allow this online?” Her call was clear: hold tech companies and governments accountable and shift responsibility from children to adults and institutions with the power to protect them.
Governments Respond with Action
Representatives from Brazil, the Philippines, Kenya, and Kazakhstan reflected on progress and challenges in implementing the Bogota pledges:
- Barbara Flores, Executive Director of the National Coordination Center against Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse at the Department of Justice, Philippines stressed the need for sustainable financing and international collaboration.
- Carren Agengó, Principal Secretary, State Department for Children Services in Kenya called for public-private collaboration for investment, data driven interventions, centering children’s experiences and for prioritising preventive rather than reactive measures.
- Dinara Zakiyeva, Commissioner for Child Rights, Kazakhstan outlined investments in cybercrime investigations and school-based safety education, as part of their national programmes.
- Fábio Hardman, Director of Child and Adolescent Protection, Brazil called for intersectional collaboration and emphasized child-centric governance, where the best interests of the child are integrated across all legal and policy frameworks.
Legal and Regulatory Tools Are Evolving
Marie-Eve Nadeau from the 5Rights Foundation provided a global overview of legislative trends, reinforcing the message that “a digital world that is safe by design and not risky by default, is possible”. She pointed to a growing momentum, from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (General Comment 25), to an evolving ecosystem of global and regional guidance including the Global Digital Compact adopted at the UN in 2024. The African Union Child Online safety and empowerment policy was also adopted last year. There are promising national laws like the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code, which are inspiring similar regulatory frameworks across continents. “We can no longer accept a digital world where children’s well-being is an afterthought,” she said.
Building on this, Afrooz Kaviani Johnson of UNICEF emphasized the need for legal systems to keep pace with digital threats. She outlined recent developments like the new UN Cybercrime Convention and the EU’s updated directive on child sexual abuse, calling for comprehensive, future-proof laws that criminalize emerging harms, including AI-generated CSAM. At the same time, she stressed that “laws alone are not enough – implementation needs to be supported. It depends on operational tools, education, and sustainable resourcing.”
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