https://ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/VOICE_Report.pdf
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, ensuring the safety and well-being of children online is paramount. However, achieving this goal requires more than just implementing topdown policies and technological solutions, it necessitates a profound understanding of children’s experiences, perspectives, and needs. As laid down by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), children have the right to have their voices heard and taken into account in all policies affecting them. By actively listening to children’s voices on safety online, we not only empower them as agents of their own development, but we also support more effective policies and interventions tailored to their specific needs.
The VOICE project was designed to listen, to understand, and bring the views of children and caregivers1 into the policy debate around safety standards and policies in digital environments. Through this research, ECPAT International, Eurochild, and Terre des Hommes Netherlands, on behalf of the Down to Zero Alliance, engaged in collaborative, meaningful child focus group discussions and the co-creation of advocacy messages with children in 15 countries in Europe, Asia, and South America.