A Call to Action from Children and Young People
to the private sector on child online protection
About
In November 2019, ASEAN adopted the Declaration on the Protection of Children from All Forms of Online Exploitation and Abuse at its 35th Summit. The Declaration stated seven main recommendations for ASEAN Member States (AMS): to strengthen legislations, law enforcement capacity, national specialized units, child protection and support services, data collection, education programmes and engagement with private sector, with an aim to better protect children from online risk and harm. To operationalize the ASEAN Declaration, the Regional Plan of Action (RPA) for the Protection of Children from All Forms of Online Exploitation and Abuse in ASEAN was developed and noted in October 2021.
Under Focus Area 7 of the RPA, AMS have committed to proactively collaborate with private sector institutions in the fight against online abuse and exploitation of children. Under activity 7.6, ASEAN agreed to host regular dialogues – the ASEAN ICT Forum on Child Online Protection - with relevant private sector institutions to promote minimum standards and good practices for operations in relation to ensuring the safety of children in online environments across the region. The first ASEAN ICT Forum on Child Online Protection took place on 2 and 3 November 2022, hosted by the Royal Government of Cambodia.
To ensure that children’s voices had a considerable impact and that child participation played a key role in the planning stages, and both during and after the Forum, consultations with children and young people took place in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, resulting in A Call to Action from Children and Young People to the Private Sector on Child Online Protection. This key document illustrates four key areas that children and young people want private sector to focus on in order to create a digital environment that centres the best interests of every child. Because every child should be safe to connect, learn and grow online.
