DCCOS: Introduction

 

More and more children and young people globally are becoming digital citizens, accessing the internet to learn, communicate and play. While the internet can be a wonderfully positive tool for them, it also exposes them to risks, and therefore need to be addressed at global, regional and national levels to ensure all children can benefit safely from the opportunities that internet and associated technologies can bring .

Whether the aim is to protect children from potentially harmful content, conduct or contact or to disrupt  the production and distribution of child sexual abuse images and videos as well as other forms of sexual abuse and exploitation through the misuse of technologies, these challenges transcend borders and require the involvement of all relevant stakeholders across sectors to address them adequately.

Given the number of internet users who are below the age of majority world wide ,the members of the Dynamic Coalition on  Child Online Safety,  believe in the importance of advocating for and positioning the above-mentioned issues within the agenda of the internet Governance Forum by providing an open platform for discussion ensuring dialogue among representatives from children's organizations, government, industry, academia and other civil society groups, including those made up of young people themselves. This is reflected by the wide variety of its members  and through concrete outcomes which were inputted by a large number of the DC members such as  the UNICEF -ITU Industry guidelines for COP.