Digital rights for children petition - please sign

Digital Rights for Children and the 20th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (together with the optional protocols that have followed) is a profoundly important document setting out the political, economic, cultural, social and civil rights that children worldwide should be afforded. The Convention was published and opened for signatures on 20 November 1989, and came into force on 2 September 1990.

Much has changed since 1989, and I believe that this milestone presents an excellent opportunity to look again at the Convention against the backdrop of the different world in which our children are growing up.

The Internet and other digital networks now afford young people immeasurable opportunities to learn, communicate, and develop their understanding of the world. However, young people are often the most vulnerable users of these technologies.

Many governments and non-governmental organisations are to be praised for the steps they have taken to ensure that children have safe and meaningful access to digital networks, and for cooperating across borders to bring to justice those who might threaten or exploit them.

For this reason, and in partnership with a number of interested organisations in the UK and abroad, I have drawn up a petition which calls upon the UN to work in cooperation with legislators and civil society to examine and assess whether the Convention on the Rights of the Child fully addresses the needs of children in the digital age.

Please note that it is not our intention to re-open the Convention – rather, we seek clarification that young people should enjoy the same rights and freedoms online as they do offline under the present convention, and that this forms part of a signatory’s reporting obligations.

This petition is supported by a number of Parliamentarians, civil society groups and communications companies; through the Family Online Safety Institute, the following firms are backing the campaign: AOL, AT&T, Blue Coat Systems, BT Retail, Comcast, CompTIA, France Telecom, Google, GSM Association, Kingston Communications, Loopt, Microsoft, MySpace, NCTA, Ning, Nominum, Optenet, Privo, RuleSpace, Sprint, StreamShield, Symantec, Telefónica, TELMEX, The Wireless Foundation, Verizon, and Yahoo.

We intend to deliver the petition to the UN on 20 November 2009 with a suggestion that the work should be completed by 2 September 2010.

I ask you to join me in supporting this important project by putting your name to the petition, which reads as follows:

On behalf of the children of the world, we, the undersigned, ask the United Nations to examine and assess whether the Convention on the Rights of the Child fully addresses the needs and expectations of children in the digital age.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Please contact Mike Forster in my office (forstermike@parliament.uk, +44 207 219 0143) if you require any further information.

Derek Wyatt MP