New coalition puts children’s rights at the centre of the AI age
7 July 2026
Culture and EducationA new international coalition launched in Geneva on Tuesday is setting out to make sure children's safety and rights are not an afterthought as artificial intelligence reshapes how they learn, play and grow up.
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 – alongside the European Commission.
