Children‘s rights are mainstreamed into all relevant activities of the Council of Europe. The rights of children in the digital environment are addressed by the following sectors:

 Cybercrime Convention Committee

 Cybercrime Division

 Data Protection Unit

CDMSI – Steering Committee on Media and Information Society

Steering Committee on Media and Information Society

 Lanzarote Committee

Youth Sector, No Hate Speech Movement

 Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

Directorate of Democratic Citizenship and Education

The Council of Europe has adopted several international conventions that protect human rights on the Internet, including the rights of children.  These legal instruments are binding on member states and set common minimum standards for their joint efforts to protect human rights online.

In the framework of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (ETS No. 5) the European Court of Human Rights has developed case-law on human rights on the Internet. Examples of rights at stake in such cases include the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8) and freedom of expression (Article 10). The Court has published a fact sheet summarising all leading cases in the field of technology and human rights.

The Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) (ETS No. 185) establishes a common approach to the criminalisation of offences related to computer systems and aims to make criminal investigations concerning such offences more effective. According to the convention all conduct relating to child sexual abuse material must be established as a criminal offence in the states parties.

The Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) (CETS No. 201) responds to potential risks faced by children when using the Internet by imposing criminal penalties for online child pornography and grooming, that is, the solicitation of children for sexual purposes.

The Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (Convention 108) (ETS No. 108) ensures respect for fundamental human rights with regard to processing of personal data. Children are holders of data protection rights under the convention and special attention must be paid to empowering children to exercise their right to data protection.

The Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and human rights, democracy and the rule of law (CETS No.225) is the first-ever international legally binding treaty in this field. It aims to ensure that activities within the lifecycle of artificial intelligence systems are fully consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law, while being conducive to technological progress and innovation. It also calls for taking due account of any specific needs and vulnerabilities in relation to respect for the rights of persons with disabilities and of children.

Committee of Ministers

• Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)7 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on Guidelines to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of the child in the digital environment

Other languages available: ARM - AZE - BUL - CRO - GEO - GER - GRC - IT - LIT - NL - POR - RUS - SRB - SLK - ESP - TUR - UKR 

Background document to the Guidelines: Policy guidance on empowering, protecting and supporting children in the digital environment and report of the child consultations: It's our world: children's views on the protection of rights in the digital environment

• Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)2 to member States on the Internet of citizens
• Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)6 on a Guide to human rights for Internet users
• Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the protection of human rights with regard to social networking services

Parliamentary Assembly

• Recommendation 2274 (2024) The protection of children against online violence
• Recommendation 2225(2022) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for an assessment of the means and provisions to combat children’s exposure to pornographic content

The Council of Europe’s revised Internet Literacy Handbook explains how to get the most out of the Internet and how to protect one’s privacy. The handbook is for for children, parents, teachers and policy makers. The structure is based on a thematic approach and contains 26 factsheets on various themes, from information on how to set up websites to anticipating and coping with the technology of tomorrow.

The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) and the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) criminalise all actions concerning child sexual abuse material.

Child sexual abuse material is defined in Article 9 of the Budapest Convention as “pornographic material that visually depicts a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; a person appearing to be a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; and realistic images representing a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct”. For the material to be considered child pornography under Article 9 of the convention it is clear that a real child does not have to be involved, it is sufficient that the material represent a minor. The reasoning behind this provision is that even if there is no real harm caused to a child in the process of producing the material, it can be used to encourage or seduce children into participating in such acts.

The definition of child pornography in Article 20 of the Lanzarote Convention is inspired by Article 9 of the Budapest Convention, but covers all forms of material, and not only material produced through computer systems.

All actions concerning child pornography such as production, offering of child pornography, distribution or transmission, procurement and possession of child pornography are criminalised in the Budapest Convention and the Lanzarote Convention. However, the Lanzarote Convention goes even further and for the first time criminalises the act of “knowingly obtaining access to child pornography”. This provision is intended to catch those offenders who access child pornography sites intentionally but without downloading any child sexual abuse images.

The Data Protection and Cybercrime Division of the Council of Europe under the Global Project on Cybercrime carries out activities to assist member states in the implementation of the Budapest Convention by encouraging the sharing of good practices and assessing available cybercrime legislation. A legislative benchmark study conducted by the Global Project on Cybercrime in 2012 showed that comprehensive domestic legislation harmonised with international standards, such as the Budapest Convention and Lanzarote Convention, is a prerequisite for effective law enforcement co-operation to protect children from cybercrime in the form of sexual exploitation.

Grooming for sexual purposes is one of the many risks children may encounter on the Internet. It can take place in Internet chat rooms, social networking sites or game sites. Although the act of grooming is not a new tactic, the fact that it can now be done online offers new and dangerous possibilities for offenders to solicit children in a faster and more anonymous way.

While communicating online, the groomer although not physically present, manipulates the child and can cause the child to witness, watch or take part in the production of online sexual material. This material can be watched by the offender and used as child abuse material. Once circulated online, it can be extremely difficult to delete and thus creates long lasting abuse and harm to the child. In some cases grooming may also lead to the adult organising a meeting with the child for the purpose of committing sexual offences against him or her.

The Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) is the first international instrument to criminalise the solicitation of children for sexual purposes through information and communication technologies. More specifically, Article 23 of the convention criminalises the intentional proposal of an adult wanting to meet a child for the purpose of engaging in sexual activities or the production of child abuse material.

The Committee of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (the Lanzarote Committee) adopted an Opinion on the issue of online grooming.

A legislative benchmark study conducted by the Council of Europe’s Global Project on Cybercrime in 2012 showed that comprehensive domestic legislation harmonised with international standards, such as the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime and the Lanzarote Convention, is a prerequisite for effective law enforcement co-operation to protect children from online sexual exploitation such as grooming.

Bullying among children now has another platform of manifestation, the Internet. Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten or embarrass another child. A study by EU Kids Online from 2010 revealed that one in five children have been exposed to cyberbullying. According to children, cyberbullying is one of the most harmful risks they associate with the Internet.

The Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education requires “to combat all forms of discrimination and violence, especially bullying and harassment”.

The Parliamentary Assembly in its Resolution 1893 (2011) on education against violence at school adopted several guiding principles that it calls on member states’ parliaments to endorse at national level in their efforts to beat bullying. This resolution also entails a commitment to ensure that work on the subject of children and violence remains a priority for the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe efforts on fighting bullying are carried out by the Directorate of Democratic Citizenship and Participation. The directorate produced a videospot, Beat Bullying, to show the harmful effects of bullying. It demonstrates how human rights and citizenship education programmes can equip children with the necessary skills to help stop bullying and cyberbullying.

The Council of Europe’s Youth Sector is running a campaign to target hate speech online. It aims to combat racism and discrimination, expressed online as hate speech, by mobilising young people and youth organisations to recognise and act against such violations.

The Council of Europe aims to secure children’s right to privacy on the Internet by promoting practices that enable the deletion of content produced by children. The existence of lasting or permanently accessible records of content created by children may render them vulnerable now or at a later stage in their lives.

Children, like adults, are holders of data protection rights under the Council of Europe's Data Protection Convention ("Convention 108”). The Convention is legally binding and establishes universal basic principles that apply to both the public and private sectors. The convention aims to harmonise national legislation to ensure respect for fundamental human rights with regard to processing of personal data.

The modernisation proposals of the convention require supervisory authorities to give specific attention to the data protection rights of children. The supervisory authorities in member states have an essential role to play in empowering children to exercise their rights under Convention 108.

The new Declaration by the Committee of Ministers calls on member states to intesify their efforts to protect children’s privacy in the digital environment and to promote, inter alia, the Guidelines on children’s data protection in an education setting, prepared by the Consultative Committee of Convention 108 in order to address the challenges identified in such settings.These Guidelines set forth the fundamental principles of children’s rights in an education setting and help legislators and policy makers, data controllers as well as the industry to uphold these rights.

Secretariat of the Convention on Data Protection

Report by the Ad Hoc Committee on Data Protection on “Data protection rights of children”