Baghdad: The Doha-based Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions (ANNHRI) concluded on Tuesday its international conference entitled 'Protecting Children in the Digital Space: Challenges, Legislation, and Preventive Measures.' The conference was held in conjunction with the 25th ANNHRI's General Assembly, which took place over two days in Bahrain.
According to Qatar News Agency, the ANNHRI noted that the conference was attended by more than 200 participants, including representatives of the Network's national institutions, the United Nations Training and Documentation Centre for Human Rights in Southwest Asia and the Arab Region, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as well as representatives from several UN agencies, international and regional organizations, civil society organizations, human rights defenders, experts, academics, officials, and ambassadors.
The conference aimed to showcase the efforts of national institutions that are members of the Arab Network for Child Protection in protecting children from online exploitation and to assess their effectiveness at the national and regional levels. This was achieved through an analysis of the most prominent cyber threats facing children and adolescents in the Arab world, a review of effective strategies to address them, and an examination of the most important experiences and best practices within Arab countries and at the regional and international levels. The goal is to contribute to the development of national policies and the strengthening of digital protection for children.
It noted that the conference focused on enhancing regional and international cooperation to develop integrated legislative and regulatory frameworks for protecting children in the digital space. It also discussed the role of families, educational institutions, and communities in protecting children from harmful content, raising public awareness about digital risks, and strengthening digital governance within the context of protecting children's rights. This was accomplished by supporting integration between national institutions and local and international partners.
In this context, HE Secretary-General of the ANNHRI Sultan bin Hassan Al Jamali presented the conference's recommendations, which called for the enactment of legislation criminalizing and punishing behaviors that violate children's rights in the digital space, restricting harmful content on information networks, and including mechanisms to protect children from exploitation and online abuse in accordance with international standards, taking into account transnational cybercrimes.
The recommendations also called for the establishment of legal and procedural frameworks to protect children's personal data on all digital platforms, obligating digital service providers to operate according to responsible corporate conduct, taking strict measures to prevent exploitation and violations of children's privacy, and urging countries to adopt a unified standard for combating cybercrime to prevent criminals from exploiting countries with less stringent laws.
The conference emphasized the importance of adopting national strategies and action plans to protect children from digital risks, establishing mechanisms to safeguard children and adolescents, integrating digital safety concepts into educational curricula, and teaching children how to navigate the digital world safely. This should be coupled with involving families in monitoring their children's online behavior and adopting a participatory approach to developing digital policies related to children, ensuring the involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including children themselves.
The recommendations stressed the importance of establishing specialized structures dedicated to children's rights within the internal structures of national human rights institutions. They also emphasized strengthening the role of families, schools, and civil society in protecting children from harmful content. Furthermore, the conference recommendations called for the implementation and organization of ongoing awareness programs targeting children, parents, and teachers to explain digital risks and how to prevent them.
The recommendations also called for providing specialized training programs for law enforcement agencies working in the field of childhood (judges and public prosecutors), as well as for teachers and social workers, to enable them to address digital crimes efficiently and swiftly and effectively protect children. It emphasized the importance of raising awareness and building capacity regarding digital rights and their dimensions among staff in national human rights institutions, and establishing a specialized public prosecution office to handle cybercrimes against children. This office would be tasked with initiating criminal proceedings on behalf of society before the competent courts, aiming to enhance the role of judicial officers authorized to investigate crimes against children.
It also noted the necessity of establishing unified, child-friendly national mechanisms for the immediate reporting of crimes related to children resulting from the use of the digital space. These mechanisms would also be responsible for collecting the necessary data, statistics, and information. Furthermore, at the conclusion of the conference, the national human rights institutions that are members of the ANNHRI affirmed their full commitment to strengthening the digital protection of children and to working collectively at the national, regional, and international levels to ensure a safe digital environment that protects children's rights and promotes their upbringing in a safe and responsible digital world.