Spain, together with around twenty countries and organisations, launches the International Coalition for Children's Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

The Minister for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, Óscar López, expressed his "satisfaction" at the success in securing memberships in the Coalition, an initiative spearheaded by Spain with the support of France, Kenya and the EU. The proposal took shape at the first United Nations Dialogue on the Governance of Artificial Intelligence, held in Geneva.

"Let's not make the same mistakes with AI as we did with social media. Children's rights must not be overlooked in the digital world. Every day, children and teenagers all over the world visit websites where they can be harmed. It is our duty to protect them. Some billionaires have been making a lot of money from our children's data. This must end. It is time for them to take responsibility", Óscar López emphasised at the Coalition's launch event.

Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Korea, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Morocco and the Netherlands, as well as Spain, have joined this Coalition, alongside UNICEF (the UN Children's Fund), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies and the European Commission.

This coalition aims to foster coordination between governments, United Nations agencies, technology companies, civil society organisations, child welfare experts and education professionals to "ensure that the development and deployment of AI respect the safety, healthy development and rights of all children, as recognised in the Convention on the Rights of the Child".

In the approved document, the signatories recognise that the rapid roll-out of AI systems is transforming the digital environments in which children learn, communicate and interact. These technologies create new opportunities but also amplify risks such as manipulation, harmful content, the generation of pornography and child sexual abuse material via deepfakes and the algorithmic targeting of children. Ensuring that AI systems are safe by design requires coordinated action between governments, industry, civil society and international organisations.

To this end, the coalition signatories commit, first and foremost, to "developing AI systems that are safe, reliable, trustworthy, respectful of children's rights and people-centred". They will promote cooperation amongst all stakeholders involved in the protection of children's rights and encourage the exchange of best practice, including input from the Independent Scientific Panel on AI. Finally, they also undertake to "ensure" that children's views "contribute significantly to the design, deployment and governance of the artificial intelligence systems that affect them, in line with their right to be heard".

Drawing on data from the first report by the Scientific Panel on AI, Óscar López noted that it confirms children's exposure "to manipulative algorithms, fake news, pornography and cyberbullying". "The evidence is there for all to see, and it demands that we take action," he urged.

He therefore called for the promotion of AI governance, arguing that AI "cannot operate without rules" but must instead "be governed by reliable standards that incorporate safety by design, scientific evidence and human oversight". This is something which, "together with effective age-verification mechanisms that protect privacy, can prevent unnecessary harm that will affect the development of our children and grandchildren".

The minister stated that Spain "is determined to take decisive action", noting that the country has championed an EU-wide ban on AI systems that generate non-consensual sexual deepfakes and child pornography, and has led efforts to develop an interoperable age verification tool within the European framework. He also outlined other measures, such as the ongoing development of Spain's Digital Wallet to verify age online, and negotiations to pass a law preventing under-16s from accessing social media, promoting transparent algorithms, protecting children's mental health and holding the executives of major platforms to account.

Non official translation