Digital Governance for Children's Rights and Online Safety: Transforming Norms and Standards into Action  

Background 

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Today’s global shifts are transforming the world we live in and in so many ways are fundamentally changing childhood. Rapid demographic growth and urbanization are intensifying the demand for education, jobs and increased social services for youth and children.

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African governments are rolling out bold digital transformation agendas and the private sector is innovating fast. Digital solutions, including emerging technologies such as AI, offer transformative potential to advance children’s well-being. By leveraging digital technologies, we can expand access to education and healthcare for underserved communities, amplify young voices, and connect with every child, everywhere. Undoubtedly, with digital power comes digital responsibility, especially concerning the well-being of children, for instance to benefit from the rapidly evolving landscapes of AI, digitalization, data and digital skills.

This session is about moving from principles to practice in relation to responsible business conduct in the digital environment. We’ll explore how public-private partnerships (PPPs), global standards, and innovations—like those in Zambia and Ghana—can help build safer, more inclusive digital ecosystems within the framework of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

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Key Objectives

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• Enhance understanding of digital risks and opportunities for children and youth

• Highlight the role of the private sector in promoting digital safety and equity especially for children and youth

• Share enabling factors for building sustainable digital ecosystems

• Showcase Ghana and Zambia’s digital transformation efforts and lessons learned

• Promote actionable partnerships for child-centered digital governance

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Guiding Questions

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• What are the key risks and opportunities associated with digital technologies for children?

• How can governments ensure that digital transformation agendas uphold child rights?

• In what ways, how can the private sector embed respect for children’s rights in the design of digital products and services while contributing to digital inclusion and safety? Examples

• What lessons can be drawn from Zambia and Ghana digital learning and child protection initiatives?

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Background to the Discussion

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Despite the global growth of technology, more than half of the world’s children and young people do not have access to digital systems, missing out on opportunities to build better futures.

• An estimated two thirds of the world’s school-aged children – or 1.3 billion children of ages 3 to 17 years – do not have internet access at home. Most of these children live in parts of Africa and Asia.

• In Zambia, as of early 2024, only 31.2% of Zambians were internet users, and just 17% were active on social media, reflecting a significant digital gap—especially in rural areas.In Rufunsa District, more than 50% of shortlisted applicants for census jobs were disqualified after failing digital aptitude tests due to low digital literacy.

Limited connectivity and budget constraints continue to hinder the inclusivity of digital learning initiatives, leaving the most vulnerable children behind and reinforcing inequality.

• Africa is the region of the world with lowest connectivity for the general population. Data on children’s access remain limited. Survey research conducted with 5,020 children living in five countries in eastern and southern Africa shows that even when children have basic connectivity, they face additional barriers to using the internet. Some barriers are infrastructure-related, such as having a slow connection or poor signal, which affected 31 per cent of surveyed children. High cost of data is another impeding factor, affecting 30 per cent of children. Lack of electricity affected 13 per cent. These findings explain why children are less likely to use the internet when they live in rural settings or poor households or when their parents have less education. Other barriers to access include having to share a device with other people (affecting 20 per cent of children) and not having an adult’s permission to use the internet (affecting 23 per cent of children, especially younger children and girls).

• A UNICEF-supported initiative, Learning Passport Zambia, has reached over 13,000 learners and teachers since its launch in 2022, but many schools still lack awareness on digital literacy and digital safety and access to digital platforms. For learners in rural and disadvantaged areas, home learning remains largely unfeasible due to limited access to affordable internet and digital devices.

Digital access must be paired with robust online safety measures.

• In Zambia, A Kids Online study found that 23.2% of girls and 10.9% of boys had been asked for sexual information online, and 18.6% of girls were asked for explicit images or videos. Household monitoring of internet usage has declined, and only 36% of households have any mitigation measures in place to protect children online.

• In the Ghana’s fast digitizing society, many children face online risks, including online and technology-facilitated violence. 3 in 10 children (9-17) have experienced something that bothered or upset them while online and 4 in 10 children (9-17) have seen sexual images while online. 23,626 cyber tip line rep

 

Limited/Weak coordination in awareness campaigns and fragmented reporting and referral systems undermine the capacity to protect children from online abuse and exploitation.

 

UNICEF, together with partners, has developed transformative approaches and tools to guide governments and the private sector in building inclusive and safe digital strategies. These include:

• Learning platforms to support quality learning and skilling.

• Global infrastructure initiative to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice.

• policy  and digital safety frameworks, aligned with global standards, to improve case management and referral both at public and private sector level.