United Nations Geneva, 15 September 2015 - Focus on the ICT sector and the elimination of sexual violence, by Address by Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians

30th Session of the Human Rights Council High Level Side Event The Rights of the Child | UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Focus on the ICT sector and the elimination of sexual violence United Nations Geneva, 15 September 2015 Address by Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians

Ministers,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to be able to address you here in the Palais des Nations. This building is a symbol of the endeavours that states and peoples make to promote the fundamental principles of life in our societies. I am talking, of course, about Human Rights, and more specifically the rights of the child. It is also a real privilege to introduce this event, a panel debate involving top-quality speakers, all of whom are personally committed to child advocacy.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Your presence in such large numbers at this event shows your shared commitment to the rights of the child in a world that is changing fast. The protection of children's rights is a cause that is particularly dear to me. It is one of which I am delighted to be part, both in my own country and at the level of the UN organisations.

For a number of years, Belgium has been active in mobilising the private sector concerning the rights of the child. I lent my voice to this cause, because I agree that business has a contract with society. And I applaud the commitment of business to take a more active role in this respect. The corporate sector can - and should - take more responsibility for the most marginalized members of our society, among them children. Companies should systematically include children's rights among their main corporate responsibility objectives. Hence, they contribute to the creation of welfare and wellbeing for the whole of society.

Today, I would like to put the emphasis on the rights of the child in a rapidly-developing business sector, one that has an increasing impact on our daily lives: information and communication technology.

All over the world the development of new technologies means that everyone - or almost everyone - has access to the digital network. New means of communication and sharing knowledge are infinite. The growth of mobile technologies has been spectacularly swift. On every continent, children are growing up in a world that has become extremely complex and intensely connected. The average time that children spend on the internet continues to grow, and the age at which they embrace new technology is decreasing. Broader access to the internet raises many challenges in terms of both online and offline safety.

The internet plays a greater role in children's lives now than ever before. We must therefore think carefully about the impact of constant exposure to possibly harmful online materials.

On the one hand, the internet offers extraordinary opportunities to even the youngest children, and their parents, to access knowledge, new teaching resources, creative play activities, and commerce, which will develop their potential to dream up the world of tomorrow.

Cutting-edge IT offers young people access to personalised services and state-of-the-art medical treatments. These can improve their daily lives in the long term.  And finally, the web keeps family members in touch, allows people to share glimpses of their lives and to build bridges between cultures and across borders. This social network has become indispensable, especially for young people.

On the other hand, there are holes in this rapidly expanding digital system, not least the dark web, which is currently both unregulated and impossible to regulate. However, even on the normally accessible web, children across the world are confronted by unprecedented risks. The fact that their characters are still forming makes them particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of new technologies.

The existence of people with malicious intentions, who manipulate young people and exploit their innocence, is not exceptional. Sometimes they even take control of their personalities. Child exploitation on the web, including for commercial purposes, is real and very worrying.

Online violations of the rights of the child can have a serious and lasting effect on young people's physical and psychological integrity. For the rest of their lives even. Yet, it is often not obvious when children's self-image is affected. Likewise, we often fail to hear children's voices, even in areas that directly influence their lives and well-being.

It is our duty, therefore - all of us - as adults, parents, teachers and leaders, to guide children and protect them in this new, connected world. Together we must create a secure online framework within which children can grow up and flourish. And we must maintain that framework, too.

Prevention and awareness-raising are crucial first steps. But teaching children to be media savvy is equally essential: empowering them with the knowledge, the skills and the attitudes to use the new media actively and creatively, but also safely, as tools for social participation.

Meanwhile, the internet industry could play an increasingly important role in developing preventive measures to protect children from all kinds of risks.  Serious efforts should be made to increase the safety of platforms that are frequently visited by children. And more could be done to protect children's privacy too.

The industry can help to protect children from abuse, while at the same time protecting their customers. An appropriate balance must be found.

In the telecommunications sector, the responsibility must be shared by several players: access providers, internet operators and service providers. It is fundamental for all of them to act together, to strengthen security and make the internet a safe place to grow up.

Companies that are directly involved in online commerce can actively help to ensure respect and protection for children. Apart from their commercial activities - which are, after all, their core business - the private sector should be fully aware of the potential, sometimes harmful impact of online operations on the young. And they must take their share of responsibility in a collective response to illicit activities.

The active involvement of the whole online industry in providing protection is crucial to a safer internet. When it comes to online sexual exploitation, by far the biggest problem is child pornography.

Where credit cards are used for payment, the financial sector could help to identify the people behind suspect financial transactions. Virtual currencies still pose a greater challenge, of course.

The tourist sector also has a specific responsibility to fight against child sex tourism. Last year, in partnership with various official stakeholders, Belgium created the "I say STOP!" website against the sexual exploitation of children. This website is linked to the European reporting platform and gives travellers the tools to report abuses worldwide.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to see that a growing number of businesses are responding to the call and committing to work with the public sector and civil society to instigate responsible commercial practices. Practices that will have a direct, positive impact on children's well-being.

But I want to see increased concerted efforts to achieve a more efficient partnership between the public and private sectors. When there is abuse, we should immediately demand the application of the law, in conformity with international standards, to ensure that there is sentencing and atonement.

In this connected world, online crime is increasingly organised. It is all the more imperative, then, to strengthen cooperation between the judicial and jurisdictional authorities at every level: national, regional and international. Without this, violations and abuse against children cannot be pursued effectively and stopped.

Even offline, victims of child pornography are repeatedly confronted with images of their abuse. It is important, therefore, for the ICT sector to respond positively to requests, from both governmental and non-governmental institutions, to remove these images quickly.

The approach to fighting commercial sexual exploitation and violence against children online must be holistic. Action is required on a variety of fronts: prevention; support for victims; tracing and punishment of the perpetrators of abuse; and removal of the online images that only add to the lasting trauma victims suffer.

Children should be our top priority. Let us do everything we can to keep them safe. That should be our collective primary motivation. Children are our most precious resource, for they represent the future of our societies. And it is that future that is at risk.

I shall listen, therefore, with great interest to what our guest speakers have to say today.

Thank you

http://www.monarchie.be/nl/actueel/discours/archief/kinderrechten-en-het-internet-mensenrechtenraad