Signature Campaign

Convention on Children’s Rights in the Digital World

Enstitü Sosyal
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Read The Convention
Sign For Real Rights In Virtual Environment!

🎉 Thank you! This signature is not just a click. It’s genuine support to ensure a child is not left alone in the digital world. We’re grateful you’ve added your voice to ours, but what’s even more important is:

We can amplify this call with thousands of people like you. Keep it going, start the chain! 👇🏻

Importance of the Campaign

Today, children are growing up not only in classrooms or playgrounds, but inside screens, in the depths of apps, in a world steered by algorithms. They leave a trace with every touch and actually generate data with every search.

This data is analysed and stored without their consent. Invisible observers are at the other end of the screen, following their emotional state, preferences and behaviour.

This campaign is here to highlight children’s digital rights.
Because children’s right to privacy and protection extends into the digital world, too.

These rights must be guaranteed not only by goodwill but through an agreement uniting all relevant stakeholders.

The Convention on Children’s Rights in the Digital World defines the rights of children in the digital age, exposes the systematic threats that violate these rights, and calls on all of society to assume responsibility in this regard.

This is not only a warning, but a call for transformation.

Children no longer grow up merely in front of screens; they now come of age within a global data ecosystem. We are obligated not only to guide them but also to safeguard them within this system.

Let's recognise and protect children's digital rights jointly.
Because the virtual is only the environment, rights are real.

Signed by
Referenced by
1 Handan kılınç 376 people
2 Fatma Betül Karalı Impram 246 people
3 Fatma Betül Ercan 128 people
4 Turgay Öntaş 126 people
5 Kübra Nur Duman 63 people
6 Beyza Gözükızıl 55 people
7 Cevahir Turan 41 people
8 Leyla Erdal 36 people
9 Emin Tarık Özer 28 people
10 Fatmanur Kartav 27 people
Convention on Children’s Rights in the Digital World

This Convention serves as a call to all parties responsible for ensuring children's digital safety. While acknowledging the opportunities provided by digital technologies for children's education, development, and creativity, these parties are also expected to assume responsibility for recognizing and addressing threats such as online abuse and exploitation, data breaches, cyberbullying, and digital inequality. The primary parties to the Convention include parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, school administrators, pediatricians, legal professionals, social workers, policymakers, digital content producers, companies, and states. These parties are obligated to fulfill their responsibilities to safeguard the rights and well-being of children.

In this Convention, the term "child" refers to any individual under the age of 18, and the term "digital world" refers to all platforms, content, applications, and interactive environments accessible through the internet and connected technologies.

The purpose of this convention is to ensure the safety of children until they are able to protect their own digital rights and to create a sustainable framework for cooperation that upholds the best interests of children in the digital world. This agreement is not only a legal framework but also a call for a social mobilization. Every child should exist as an individual in the digital world; their rights should be recognized, their voices heard, and their entire being protected. The parties accept the following principles and obligations, committing to take measures, with a shared sense of responsibility, to safeguard children’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being in the digital world:

  • The right of every child to safely, equitably, and meaningfully access information and communication technologies shall be protected.
  • It is the non-transferable joint responsibility of parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, school administrators, pediatricians, legal professionals, social workers, digital content providers, companies, and governments to ensure the protection of a child’s physical, mental, and emotional integrity, privacy, and personal data in digital environments.
  • Any party who fails to educate and inform children about the digital world, exposes them to screens in an unlimited and uncontrolled manner, and neglects to take necessary precautions, shall be considered to have neglected the children.
  • Every digital service accessible to children is obliged to consider the child’s development. Digital content directed at children, or featuring children, must not contain elements that could harm their physical, mental, or emotional development. The child’s right to privacy, the principle of informed consent, and the right to be forgotten must be respected in digital content and applications. Practices that violate these rights shall not be permitted.
  • Content featuring children must not include elements such as violence, hate speech, bullying, obscenity, gambling, or any factors that could harm the child’s physical, mental, or emotional integrity. Parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, school administrators, pediatricians, legal professionals, social workers, digital content providers, companies, and governments share a collective responsibility to prevent attitudes that may lead to exclusionary behaviors and intentional isolation among children in digital and social environments.
  • Personal data belonging to a child shall be considered special categories of personal data and protected by service providers under the supervision and oversight of the State. Such data shall not, under any circumstances, be commercialized or used in a way that could harm the child. Digital service providers are responsible for ensuring that algorithms and content targeted at children are safe, age-appropriate, and free from discrimination.
  • Children, parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, school administrators, pediatricians, and social workers must have access to prompt, accessible, and effective channels for reporting and filing complaints about abuse, violence, hate speech, bullying, obscenity, threats, and other unlawful actions encountered in digital environments, as well as digital addiction.
  • Public institutions and competent authorities responsible for monitoring the obligations of parents, guardians, caregivers, educators, pediatricians, social workers, digital content providers, and companies, and for taking the necessary measures in this regard, play a vital role in the prevention of child abuse and exploitation.
  • Children have the right to receive age-appropriate, accessible, and high-quality digital literacy education in order to remain safe in the digital world. States shall consider this field, which complements the right to education in the digital sphere, as a public service. No child shall be deprived of the right to digital literacy education. States are obligated to provide the necessary resources to ensure this right.
  • States shall support the development and regulation of digital platforms that prioritize the safety, privacy, and well-being of children.
  • Children have the right to be safe in virtual and augmented reality environments. The State shall take the necessary measures against risks of exploitation, identity violations, and privacy violations in such environments. Every child shall be protected from being assessed or treated in a discriminatory or harmful manner by artificial intelligence and automated decision-making systems. Technology companies are obligated to take all necessary measures to ensure such protection.
  • Every child has the right to international protection against the rights violations addressed in this Convention. States shall promote international cooperation to combat digital crimes, online abuse and exploitation, data trafficking, and illegal content, and shall establish mechanisms for mutual legal assistance.
  • Every child born into the world, regardless of language, religion, or race, shall be protected in the digital world with the same level of care and sensitivity in accordance with the principles set forth above.
This Convention has been drafted under the guidance of Enstitu Sosyal, within the framework of a joint consensus formed during commission meetings held with the participation of educators, legal professionals, digital content creators, game designers, and experts from many related fields.