AI and the Rights of the Child: A Global Line in the Sand
A coordinated UN-backed call to put child rights at the center of youth AI governance
In November 2025, a coalition of major UN bodies and global child rights organizations released the Joint Statement on Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of the Child.
Led by the International Telecommunication Union alongside UNICEF, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNESCO, the ILO, and dozens of civil society partners, the statement is not a casual policy memo.
It is a coordinated signal to governments and technology companies worldwide: AI must be governed through a child rights lens.
Grounded in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and existing human rights frameworks, it makes clear that children are not edge cases in the AI conversation. They are rights holders under international law, and AI systems must reflect that reality from design to deployment.
Summary
Joint Statement on Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of the Child
This joint statement calls on governments, companies, and international institutions to adopt a child rights-based approach to AI. The central premise is straightforward: children are rights holders, and AI systems must be designed, developed, deployed, and governed with those rights at the core.
1. Governments must lead with regulation
States are urged to pass legislation, fund oversight mechanisms, conduct child rights impact assessments, and ensure AI systems prioritize dignity, non-discrimination, privacy, and the best interests of the child. Governance should be proactive, transparent, and enforceable.
2. Corporate responsibility is explicit
AI companies must conduct audits and child rights impact assessments, embed safety-by-design, ensure transparency, and create child-friendly reporting mechanisms. Systems that mimic human interaction must include safeguards to prevent unhealthy emotional attachment.
3. Child safety is central
The statement addresses AI-enabled harms head-on: sexual exploitation, grooming, deepfakes, cyberbullying, misinformation, algorithmically amplified harmful content, and gambling-related risks. States are encouraged to criminalize AI-facilitated abuse and to consider proportionate age-assurance requirements.
4. Data protection and commercial exploitation
Children’s data should be minimized, securely protected, and never commercially exploited. The document raises concerns about the use of biometric data and the use of children’s information to train AI systems without proper consent.
5. Best interests, inclusion, and bias mitigation
AI must be age-appropriate, accessible, culturally responsive, and bias-mitigated. Digital divides must be addressed to prevent a new AI divide that leaves vulnerable children behind.
6. Child participation and literacy
Children should meaningfully participate in AI policy and design processes. AI literacy must be integrated into education, and parents, educators, judges, and policymakers must be trained to understand the risks and opportunities associated with AI.
7. Environmental accountability
AI’s environmental footprint should be assessed and mitigated, recognizing that climate impact is inseparable from children’s rights.
At its core, the statement reinforces that existing human rights law already applies to AI. The Convention on the Rights of the Child does not disappear because technology evolves.
The Path Forward
The question isn’t whether AI will shape childhood. It already is. The real question is whether we embed child rights now or repeat the scale-first, harm-later cycle we’ve seen before.
This statement offers the blueprint. Implementation will determine whether it becomes protection or just another well-intentioned document.
Derek E. Baird, M.Ed., is a Child Rights & kidtech policy expert with over 20 years of experience building trust and safety systems for young people at organizations such as The Walt Disney Company, Facebook, BeMe Health, and Yahoo! He is the author of the best-selling book, The Gen Z Frequency.
