Concern 872 · Working draft · editorial review in progress
Rights of the child under AI
Children's rights under AI include protection from harm and respect for their privacy, development, participation and growing ability to make choices.
Understanding the concern
Children are not simply smaller adults. They may have less experience recognizing persuasion, understanding data use or challenging a decision. At the same time, AI tools can support learning and expression. A rights-based approach considers both protection and meaningful access instead of treating every child or use as identical.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child explains how established rights apply in digital settings. Picture designing a public playground: safety matters, but children also need room to learn, meet others and be heard. AI services should take age and circumstances into account, explain choices clearly and provide support that children can actually use.
An example
A school adopts an AI service without explaining its data practices to students or asking how it affects their learning and participation.
Illustrative unless identified as a documented case.
Words in plain English
- AI
- Software that learns patterns from examples or uses rules to perform tasks such as recognizing images or generating text. It can make mistakes and does not understand every situation as a person would.
Evidence and its limits
General Comment No. 25 is treaty interpretation, not evidence that a particular product causes harm. Domestic enforcement and the applicable duties vary.
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child · Treaty interpretation
General comment No. 25 on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment ↗ (opens in a new tab)Explains children's rights to protection, participation, privacy and development online. General comment is not a new globally identical enforcement mechanism.
Broader frameworks and background
These resources provide context. They do not establish every claim in this concern.
- EU AI Act — high-level summary (opens in a new tab)
regulation
- Council of Europe AI Convention (opens in a new tab)
regulation
- International humanitarian law (IHL)
framework
The body of law that governs the conduct of armed conflict and the protection of people who are not fighting, which applies to AI used in or for conflict.
A question to discuss
How does this use protect children while respecting their views and supporting their development?
Keep track of different views, what needs checking, and any next step in your own discussion notes.
Open discussion notes →Principles for the conversation
Before you finish · reflect together
Virtues and principles to consider
Virtues are qualities we practice in how we treat people and make choices. They are not scores for judging someone. Use these ideas to explore what a thoughtful response could look like.
Justice
Justice means fair treatment, fair procedures, and attention to who receives benefits and burdens. It asks whether people with less power can be heard and seek repair.
Look at outcomes across different groups and individual cases. Provide a usable way to challenge decisions and correct harm. Equal wording in a policy does not guarantee equal treatment in practice.
Ask together: Who benefits, who bears the cost, and who can challenge the decision?
Accountability
Accountability means being answerable for decisions and taking responsibility for repair. It requires more than saying that the software made the choice.
Name the person or team responsible, keep useful records, and give them authority to correct problems. Make the route to a complaint clear to the people affected.
Ask together: Who will answer for the outcome and help put things right?
Dignity
Dignity means recognizing each person's worth regardless of usefulness, status, or a system's score. People deserve respect and a voice in matters that affect them.
Explain important decisions, avoid humiliating treatment, and keep room for a person's story. Do not treat a prediction as a complete account of who someone is.
Ask together: Does this use treat each person as someone whose experience matters?
Editorial ratings
These are editorial judgments from the register, not measured probabilities or predictions about your situation.
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