CHILD ONLINE SAFETY TOOLKIT
5RIGHTS
TEN POLICY ACTION AREAS
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Legal and regulatory frameworks
Children may face particular difficulties in obtaining remedy when their rights have been abused in the digital environment by business enterprises, in particular in the context of their global operations. States parties should consider measures to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights in the context of businesses’ extraterritorial activities and operations, provided that there is a reasonable link between the State and the conduct concerned. They should ensure that businesses provide effective complaint mechanisms; such mechanisms should not, however, prevent children from gaining access to State-based remedies. They should also ensure that agencies with oversight powers relevant to children’s rights, such as those relating to health and safety, data protection and consumer rights, education and advertising and marketing, investigate complaints and provide adequate remedies for violations or abuses of children’s rights in the digital environment. Source: General comment No. 25 (2021), para 4883
Objective: To strengthen and re-align the domestic legal and regulatory regimes related to child online safety, and to strengthen the capacity and capability of law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies in the child online safety field including their capacity to collaborate with other sectors, in particular the ICT sector.
Model policy text: To ensure a holistic approach to child online safety, each of the steps below is necessary. 2a. Strengthen and enforce laws that prohibit child online safety-related offences Criminal laws and procedures facilitate the investigation and prosecution of online offences that violate children’s right to protection and should be strengthened and amended in line with international standards and best practices. This should include the introduction of mandatory risk assessments to reduce potential for harm, enhancing sanctions and sentencing frameworks where necessary. It should also include the potential for notice and takedown procedures. Criminal laws concerning child online safety should be developed in light of all children’s rights, including their right to be heard and to participation.84 2b. Introduce data protection regulations and independent supervisory authorities, ensuring that children’s data is protected appropriately, and collected only where necessary with high levels of security and care Such general regulations should include special category status for children’s data, requiring higher levels of protection and safeguards by default as well as protections against the inappropriate commercial use of children’s data. Where consent is sought from children, or parents/carers on their behalf, for the online collection and processing of younger children’s data it must be informed and meaningful. Data gathering for safeguarding purposes should be given special consideration in exceptional circumstances where this is in the best interests of the child.
83. 84.
General comment No. 25 (2021) on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, UNCRC, 2021. For example, legal frameworks that do not make it clear whether self-generated sexual images that are exchanged on consensual basis between children will be considered illegal Child Sexual Abuse Material. Even if children are not prosecuted in practice this legal uncertainty with potential criminalisation may undermine trust, control and autonomy rights.
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