A newly launched international coalition in Geneva on Tuesday aims to ensure that children’s safety and rights remain central as artificial intelligence reshapes how they learn, play, and grow up.
The Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence unites governments, UN agencies, technology firms, civil society, educators, and child welfare experts, all anchored by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the world’s most widely ratified human‑rights treaty.
The coalition was officially launched at the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance, a two‑day event that began on Monday.
Founding UN members include the Department of Global Communications (DGC), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, UNICEF, and UNESCO.
Seventeen countries have already signed up, including Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and Spain, together with the European Commission.
© ITU/D. Woldu Participants at the Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva discuss efforts to safeguard children’s rights and protection. A generation growing up with AI
Children are already immersed in an AI‑driven world, from the educational apps they use to the algorithms that decide what they see and whom they interact with.
The coalition’s founding declaration acknowledges that AI brings significant opportunities—in education, creativity, and inclusion—while also exposing children to risks that current systems were never designed to address.
Its core argument is a straightforward reframing: children should not be regarded merely as technology users to be protected after the fact, but as rights holders whose voices should shape AI development from the outset.
Members have pledged to integrate children’s perspectives into the design, deployment, and oversight of AI systems—not as a token consultation, but as a legal obligation stemming from their right to be heard.
Safety pledge
The launch follows the UN Secretary‑General’s call for an AI Child Safety Pledge, announced in his opening remarks at the Global Dialogue on AI on Monday.
Coalition members commit to sharing evidence and best practices, and to ensuring that children’s views genuinely inform decisions about systems that affect their lives, rather than being relegated to a footnote after implementation.
