Child rights and business in the digital environment

Children, or everyone under the age of 18, make up an estimated one in three internet users globally. The digital world provides children with unprecedented opportunities, while also exposing them to online risks and harms that require dedicated efforts to understand and address. Governments, parents and caregivers, educators, civil society, and children and young people themselves all around the world have a role to play in shaping a safe and positive digital environment for children. As the providers of digital products and services, the actions of businesses are also a critical component of these efforts. Every business has a responsibility to respect children's rights in the digital environment and can seize opportunities to support child rights and well-being through their activities. This e-learning training course for industry, developed by the ITU and UNICEF, includes four modules spanning foundational child rights and business issues and knowledge on the digital environment. If your company develops or deploys digital technologies, these modules will support you to better understand how child rights intersect with your company's responsibilities, potential risks and harms for children to think about in your daily operations, and ideas of where to go next on your child rights journey. This training course was developed in collaboration with UNICEF.

Target Audience

This training course is primarily targeted at personnel (cross-functional) of businesses that engage in digital activities, including technology companies.

It can also be valuable for business advisers and consultants focused on social impacts or human rights; and child online protection practitioners engaging with industry on child rights impacts.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

Describe the core frameworks underpinning child rights and responsible business conduct;
List the types of online risks and harms that children encounter in the digital environment;
Discuss the issue of online child sexual exploitation and abuse and how it relates to digital business activities;
Recognize opportunities to positively support children’s rights and well-being through business actions;
Identify actions that your business can take to better integrate child rights across digital policies and practices.