World Children’s Day: digital futures for children – children’s rights under pressure in the digital environment

In 2021, the Committee on the Rights of the Child introduced General Comment No. 25 on children’s rights in the digital environment, marking a milestone in aligning child rights with the digital age. But what real impact has it had?

Join us as our panel present findings from an in-depth research project by the Digital Futures for Children centre, the first global effort to track the recognition, uptake, and implementation of children’s rights in digital spaces. Drawing from UN treaty monitoring, national policies, regional frameworks, and civil society advocacy, the research maps how the general comment influences law, policy, and practice. It highlights areas of progress, obstacles, and the steps needed to fully realize children’s rights in an increasingly connected world. The panel discusses pathways for change in international law and digital rights, and explore what comes next.

Meet our speakers and chair

Philip D Jaffé is a Full Professor at the Centre for Children's Rights Studies (CCRS). In 2018, Switzerland proposed his candidacy for membership to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and he was elected in New York by the States Parties. Philip D Jaffé has been appointed as the new Chairperson of Child Helpline International's supervisory board, taking up his position as of March 2025.

Beeban Kidron is a leading voice on children’s rights in the digital environment and a global authority on digital regulation. She has played a key role in setting online safety and privacy standards worldwide. Baroness Kidron sits as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords, is an advisor to the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford, and chairs the 5Rights Foundation. She’s a visiting professor at LSE and chairs the Digital Futures for Children centre.

Gerison Lansdown is the founder of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England and an international children's rights consultant. She has published extensively and was involved in drafting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Lansdown is an honorary hellow of UNICEF-UK, an associate of the International Institute for Child Rights and Development, and Co-Director of CRED-PRO, an initiative to develop child rights education for professionals working with children.

Kim Sylwander is a postdoctoral researcher at the Digital Futures for Children centre at the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. Kim’s research has focused on children, youth and media, specifically online hate, racism, sexuality, and online child sexual exploitation and abuse. She has worked for the UN, in civil society and academia and has served as a Government-appointed expert in inquiries on sexual exploitation and the effects of digital media on children in Sweden.

Gastón Wright is the director of Civic Compass at Civic House in Argentina. He previously worked at Meta as Public Policy Manager in South America, as well as headed Change.org in the South Cone. He writes Philanthropy wired, a monthly column exploring the intersection of philanthropy and technology for Alliance.

Sonia Livingstone (@Livingstone_S) is a full professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She has published 20 books and advised the UK government, European Commission, European Parliament, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Council of Europe and UNICEF on media audiences, children and young people’s risks and opportunities, media literacy and rights in the digital environment. She directs the Digital Futures for Children centre.

More about this event

The Digital Futures for Children centre facilitates research for a rights-respecting digital world for children. This joint LSE and 5Rights research centre supports an evidence base for advocacy, facilitates dialogue between academics and policymakers, and amplifies children’s voices, following the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General comment No. 25.

The Department of Media and Communications (@MediaLSE) is a world-leading centre for education and research in communication and media studies at the heart of LSE’s academic community in central London.

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