Opening speech by Rafael Benitez, Director of Social Rights, Health and Environment
Chair of the Pompidou Group,
Members of the Pompidou Group,
Dear participants in Vienna and online,
On behalf of the Council of Europe, it is a pleasure to welcome you to this seminar and thanks to our Austrian hosts and the Austrian Presidency of the Pompidou Group for taking this initiative.
The digital transformation has brought extraordinary opportunities. Digital technologies enable access to information, education, democratic participation, creativity and connection on an unprecedented scale. They can strengthen civic engagement, facilitate access to services, and help people remain connected across borders, communities and generations.
At the same time, we are increasingly confronted with concerns about problematic and addictive patterns of use, exposure to harmful content, manipulative design practices, disinformation, and the impact of digital environments on mental health and well-being, particularly among children and young people.
This raises a fundamental question: how do we ensure that the digital environment remains a space where human rights are respected and democratic values flourish, while also providing effective protection against risks and harms, especially for children and young people?
For the Council of Europe, this is not merely a policy question. It lies at the heart of our mission. We seek to promote a digital environment that is safe, inclusive and rights-based. This work extends across our three pillars of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and involves a wide range of intergovernmental bodies, monitoring mechanisms and institutions working together under one roof.
The New Democratic Pact for Europe, proposed by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, provides an important framework for addressing these challenges. It starts from a simple but powerful premise: democracy must evolve to remain effective and resilient in a rapidly changing world.
Today, digital technologies shape not only how we communicate, learn and access information, but also how we participate in public life, form opinions and exercise our rights. While these technologies create unprecedented opportunities for inclusion, innovation and civic engagement, they also raise profound questions about accountability, transparency, participation and the protection of vulnerable groups.
The New Democratic Pact therefore calls for democratic safeguards that are fit for the digital age. It seeks to ensure that technological innovation remains anchored in human dignity, democratic values and the rule of law. It also recognises that protecting children and young people in digital environments is not simply a matter of preventing harm. It is equally about empowering them to participate safely, confidently and meaningfully in democratic societies.
This requires a comprehensive approach that brings together governments, international organisations, regulators, industry, educators, parents and young people themselves. It requires stronger digital citizenship and health literacy, greater transparency and accountability of online platforms, and policies that are informed by evidence and guided by human rights standards. Above all, it requires a shared commitment to ensuring that digital transformation strengthens, rather than weakens, the foundations of democratic life.
This debate is no longer confined to policymakers and regulators. It increasingly engages voices from across society, including educators, scientists, civil society, faith communities and the technology sector itself. A notable recent example was the presentation of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical on artificial intelligence, focused on safeguarding human dignity in the digital age, in the presence of Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic. Their dialogue reflected a growing recognition that the governance of powerful digital technologies is not solely a technical or economic matter, but also an ethical and societal one. It highlighted the importance of ensuring that innovation remains guided by human dignity, responsibility and the common good. As digital technologies become ever more influential in shaping the lives of children and young people, this broader conversation is highly relevant to the work before us today.
Today, across Europe and beyond, governments are actively seeking solutions. We see growing efforts to regulate digital spaces, strengthen child protection online, and address concerns related to addictive design features, harmful content, algorithmic amplification and platform accountability.
In just two days’ time, experts from across Europe and beyond will gather in Strasbourg, under the Monaco Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, to discuss these very issues. Minister Robino has already highlighted many of the challenges we face today.
The Secretary General’s Coalition for Health Literacy and Human Rights represents an important milestone in strengthening our collective response. Later this year, Ministers from the 46 member States will gather in Rome on 4 December to further reinforce cooperation in this field.
At the same time, public debates are becoming increasingly complex.
Proposals to restrict access to specific platforms and applications have evolved into broader discussions about children’s access to digital services and online environments. Ongoing debates concerning very large online platforms, including TikTok and Meta, as well as messaging services and emerging AI-powered applications, illustrate the challenges policymakers face in seeking to protect users while preserving fundamental rights and freedoms.
The challenge before us is therefore not whether action is needed. The challenge is ensuring that action is effective, evidence-based and fully consistent with human rights standards.
This requires us to strike a careful balance: protecting children and young people from harm while safeguarding their rights to information, participation, expression and development. It requires robust evidence, international cooperation and a long-term perspective that places the well-being and dignity of every child at its centre.
These are precisely the questions that bring us together today.
I wish you fruitful discussions over the coming days and look forward to the insights and recommendations that will emerge from this seminar. Thank you.