Welcome to the United Nations
UNICEF
With both SDG 4 (Education) and SDG 17 (Partnerships) under review at HLPF as well as Our Common Agenda’s focus on digital inclusivity and protection, this event will provide an opportunity for governments, civil society, the private sector, the UN and children and youth to discuss both the opportunities and challenges for child rights in an increasingly digital world.
Millions of children globally are spending increasing amounts of time online. While the digital environment can greatly enable and enhance children's access to high-quality and inclusive education, including distance and mobile learning, as well as access to information, children’s increased exposure to the digital environment also gives rise to risks and challenges. Harmful misinformation, child sexual exploitation and abuse, online bullying and violence and mental health issues threaten children’s health, safety, and rights. At the same time, millions of children have no access to the internet at all. Bridging this digital divide is key to fulfilling the right to non-discrimination, which requires that all children have equal and effective access to the digital world.
This gap has been acutely felt in the last two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting school closures. Over 400 million children did not have access to the internet and could therefore not access online learning. This has resulted in trillions of lost hours of learning, especially for the most vulnerable children, and has deepened the existing global learning crisis. Additionally, as a result of the digital divide, children have also been separated from access to protection services and information during the pandemic. Some child protection services that had been delivered in person had to migrate to digital technology.
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