Digital Rights: How Safe Are Children Online?

Sweeping across the age of breakthrough electronic devices and online platforms, young people seem to get stuck at opposing issues: increasing connectivity and limiting safety. How do we protect the rights of children online?

Sonia Livingstone explained in The Guardian that policies and tools on digital rights and freedoms can be made more inclusive of children.

Audit of Digital Rights

Livingstone evaluated the Ranking Digital Rights, a nonprofit initiative that serves as an independent audit of digital rights. In November 2015, the nonprofit launched the Corporate Accountability Index to evaluate 16 top internet and telecommunication companies. The index aims to check whether companies "develop, deliver and manage products and services in a manner consistent with international human rights norms." But while platforms like this insist, Livingstone begs to question: "So if policies and tools implicitly assume users are adult, where does that leave children?"

In a blog post, UNICEF declared that with the wealth of information found online, it is important to teach children, parents and even teachers how to use the internet safely. The organization launched a series of workshops on internet safety, reaching over 7,000 children, parents and teachers.

Building A Safe Environment

The UNICEF also made a Child Safety Online guidelines that introduce global challenges and strategies on child internet use.

Part 2 of the guidelines prescribes:

"There is much to be done in all parts of the world, industrialized, middle- and low-income countries. A comprehensive protection response entails action involving a diversity of governmental and nongovernmental actors across a range of spheres.

This includes putting the 'architecture' in place - a legislative framework to define criminal activity, the capacity to deter potential abusers and prosecute offenders, and proactive measures to restrict and inhibit access to child abuse images by actual and potential offenders."

Further, a Miami Herald article points out that it is highly imperative to keep children away from guns, bullying and online predators.