Child Rights Connect and its members including Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights) presented a joint submission with the Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education of the Dublin City University Institute of Education and  the Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast on the CRC’s concept note for a General Comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment.

The submission included the findings from the online consultation with more than 2695 children in the context of the 2018 Day of the General Discussion in relation to how Children Human Rights Defenders (CHRDs) use digital technologies and interact in the digital environment.

Taking stock of the opportunities provided by the digital environment, the submission encouraged the Committee on the Rights of the Child to include a strong angle of empowering  CHRD. In particular, and in line with the recommendations made on the DGD on ‘Digital media and children’s rights’ held in 2014, and the 2018 DGD on Children Human Rights Defenders, the submission asked for the General Comment to call for equal and safe access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) and for empowering children to benefit from available resources. While many children use the digital environment to get information, share information and socialise, CHRDs are using it to learn about their human rights, to meet and collaborate with others to promote their human rights and the rights of others and to effect change locally and globally. The digital environment provides them with both additional opportunities and challenges that are distinctive to these children. Hence, the submission indicated that will be important for the General Comment to explicitly address the latter.

You can read the joint submission here.