The Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence brings together governments, United Nations agencies, technology companies, civil society organisations, educators and child welfare experts around a common goal: ensuring that AI systems are developed and governed in ways that respect and protect children’s rights.
The initiative was unveiled during the United Nations (UN) Global Dialogue on AI Governance, held in Geneva, and is grounded in the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the world’s most widely ratified human rights treaty.
Founding UN members of the coalition include the Department of Global Communications, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Telecommunication Union, the Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, the UN Children’s Fund and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
Seventeen countries have joined the coalition at launch, including Brazil, Canada, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Morocco, the Republic of Korea and Spain.
The coalition comes at a time when AI is playing an increasingly central role in children’s lives, influencing how young people learn, communicate, access information and engage with digital platforms.
Supporters of the initiative argue that while AI offers significant opportunities in areas such as education, creativity and inclusion, it also presents risks that existing systems are often not equipped to address.
A central principle of the coalition is that children should not simply be viewed as users of technology who require protection after systems have been developed. Instead, children should be recognised as rights holders whose perspectives help shape the development, deployment and oversight of AI technologies from the outset.
Members have committed to ensuring that children’s views are incorporated into decision-making processes affecting technologies that influence their lives. The coalition maintains that such participation is not merely a consultation exercise but a legal obligation linked to children’s right to be heard.
The launch follows a call by UN Secretary-General António Guterres for an AI Child Safety Pledge during the opening of the Global Dialogue on AI Governance.
Coalition members said they will work together to share evidence, develop good practices and promote policies that place children’s interests at the centre of AI governance frameworks.
The initiative also seeks to ensure that children’s voices are not treated as an afterthought once technologies have already been introduced, but rather become an integral part of how AI systems are designed and regulated.
–UN/ChannelAfrica–
