Children’s Rights in a Digital World

Nowadays, digital capital is a necessity to be a 21st century citizen. IRights is an initiative providing a framework designed for the protection and empowerment of children in the digital world. It contextualizes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC is one of the United Nations human rights treaties established to specifically ensure the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children.

With that in mind, IRights consists of five rights: the rights to remove; the right to easily edit or delete all content they have created, the rights to know; the right to know who is holding or profiting from their information, the right to safety and support; the right to be protected from illegal practices and supported if exposed to upsetting scenarios online, the right to informed and conscious choices; the right to access creative places online but also have the capacity to easily disengage, and the right to digital literacy; the right to understand digital technologies.

The number of Internet users in the world has drastically increased since the initial release of the World Wide Web in 1990. In the United States, statistics have shown that approximately 92% of teens report going online daily. The digital world is the world we live in now and rights and protection need to be established. IRights aims to not only reach out to young people but parents, teachers, corporations, governments, and technological companies collectively. Spreading the word and increasing awareness about human rights in the digital world is a message aimed at everyone. Children in the 21st century should be empowered and protected on all platforms of their lives. To get involved you can browse the IRights website or you can read more about internet safety tips targeting kids, teens, parents, and professionals here.

Kate Harold, ERI intern