New coalition puts children’s rights at the centre of the AI age

The Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence brings together governments, UN agencies, tech companies, civil society groups, educators and child welfare experts, all working from the same starting point: the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world.

The coalition was launched at the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance, which took place over two days starting Monday.

Its founding UN members are the Department of Global Communications (DGC), the UN human rights office (OHCHR), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, Children’s agency UNICEF, and culture and education agency UNESCO.

Seventeen countries have signed on so far – 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.

© ITU/D. Woldu

Participants at the Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, discuss efforts to ensure children's rights and protection.

A generation growing up with AI

Children are already living much of their lives inside a world shaped by AI – from the apps they learn on to the algorithms deciding what they see and who they talk to.

The coalition’s founding declaration argues that while this brings real opportunities – in education, creativity, inclusion – it also exposes children to risks that current systems were never built to handle.

Its core argument is a simple shift in framing: children should not be treated merely as users of technology to be protected after the fact, but as rights holders whose voices should shape how AI is built in the first place.

Members have committed to weaving children's perspectives into the design, rollout and oversight of AI systems – not as a consultation exercise, but as a matter of legal obligation under their right to be heard.

Safety pledge

The launch follows the UN Secretary-General’s call for an AI Child Safety Pledge, made in his opening remarks to the Global Dialogue on AI on Monday.

Coalition members say they will share evidence and good practice, and push for children’s views to genuinely inform decisions about systems that affect their lives – rather than being treated as a footnote once those systems already exist.