Through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child – no matter where they live, where they grew up or what they believe – has certain rights . These rights represent basic values that describe how we deal with children. The states that have signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child must ensure that children's rights are respected . There are three different types of rights, which are also called the three “Ps”:
- Right to support and development (“commission”)
- Right to protection
- Right to participate
Children's rights: What does it mean to protect and promote children in the digital world and how can children's participation be ensured through digitalization?
In 2021, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Children issued a general comment (General Comment No. 25) on the rights of children in relation to the digital world (English, pdf) , which explains in detail what rights and fundamental values children have in the world own digital space. There is also a short and child-friendly version (English, PDF) of it.
Right to protection: against discrimination, cyber-bullying & cyber-grooming

In some areas, children cannot defend themselves as well as adults. Therefore, they need special protection when injustice happens to them. The following five children's rights, which are intended to ensure this protection, are particularly important in the digital world:
- Article 2: No discrimination. It is important that all children have equal access to the digital world. This also means that they have the appropriate knowledge to be able to use digital technologies. In addition, children must not be discriminated against through the use of such technologies. States parties must therefore ensure that they do enough to combat hate online or other discriminatory treatment.
- Article 16: Protection of privacy. Children's privacy may be threatened when children's personal data is processed. It is therefore important to ensure data economy and data protection. Furthermore, if parents monitor their children's online activities, such monitoring must always be consistent with the children's privacy and therefore proportionate.
- Article 19: Protection against violence. The digital space must be designed to be safe for children and to protect them from all forms of violence. These include, for example, cyber-bullying , cyber-grooming or problematic and disturbing content .
- Article 32: Protection against economic exploitation. Simply by sharing and creating content or using certain apps, children can become economic actors and be affected by exploitation. For example, if the analysis of data is used to finance online offers. It must also be ensured that childhood influencers or “models” for mommy bloggers are not affected by economic exploitation.
- Article 34: Protection against sexual abuse. States parties must effectively combat cyber grooming and other forms of sexual harassment in the digital world (e.g. sending nude images, revenge porn ).
Right to support: for networking, media competence and leisure activities

Children are constantly developing. You get to know the world and always discover new things. Children must be given the best possible support in this development. The following five children's rights help to support children in the digital world:
- Article 6: Life, survival and development. The use of digital devices must not be harmful or endangering children in any way. To ensure this, it is important to support children in the online world and to promote media literacy for them and their caregivers. This is the only way to ensure the best possible development in the digital space.
- Article 15: Form and join groups. In digital environments, children have an easy way to participate in spaces for consultation, cultural exchange and social cohesion. This possibility must be encouraged. Children from minority groups in particular can stand up for their rights and form associations in which they can exchange ideas about their social, religious, cultural, ethnic, sexual and political identities.
- Article 28: Access to education. Educational offerings in the digital space must be made possible and must not create or exacerbate unequal access. In addition, digital competence must become part of the curricula. This covers topics such as recognizing fake news and trustworthy content , but also coping strategies against cyber bullying and other forms of violence.
- Article 31: Leisure, games, culture, art. It is important that children can use their free time to gain experience in the digital world and experiment with the various offerings. This can promote creativity and also social cohesion. However, it is also important that there are age-appropriate offers and that alternatives to digital activities are available.
Right to participate: to form and express opinions

Children are often not taken seriously. Children have a right to express their opinions, to have a say and to be heard. This is particularly possible in the digital world:
- Article 12: Respect for the opinions of children. Digital media can help increase children's participation in socially relevant and democratic processes and make their opinions more visible. To achieve this, digital services must actively work with children and create age-appropriate offerings. Children's views must be taken seriously into account.
- Article 13: Free opinion and information. Children's freedom of expression must not be restricted in the digital space. Algorithms for information filtering, profiling or marketing must not interfere with the expression and formation of opinions by children. This also applies to monitoring measures on the part of caregivers. If there are still restrictions, they must be explained transparently and understandably for children.
- Article 17: Access to information. Access to information means, among other things, providing age-appropriate and empowering content that is also easy for children to find. This is particularly true for children from minority groups. At the same time, children must be protected from problematic content (discriminatory, violent content, false information).
Source: Saferinternet
Convention on the Rights of the Child for download
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as of: May 20, 2022 (PDF 143 kB)
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - Child-Friendly Version as of: May 14, 2022 (PDF 1.56 MB)
Also read: How to place children's pictures on Facebook, Instagram and Co.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

