On 27 and 28 May, the Digital Citizenship Education Forum took place in Strasbourg, France. Following the unprecedented ways in which the digital environment and technologies are changing the ways we communicate, work, learn, and teach, this year’s Forum focused on how we can face the challenges addressed by digital technologies and harnessing its benefits, empowering youth and individual right-holders to actively promote and defend their rights within the digital sphere.

The forum talks – which took place over the two days – addressed various aspects related to digital technologies and digital citizenship education, ranging from promoting active youth-led participation in practicing digital citizenship to ensuring well-being and safety online and fostering democracy and teaching digital citizenship in schools and classrooms. Riccardo Gulletta, Senior Project Officer at the North-South Centre responsible for capacity-building and training in global education, contributed as a presenter to the exchanges during the forum talk on teaching digital citizenship. During his intervention, he stressed the importance of applying non-formal learning principles within the online environment, as a key approach to foster active and responsible participation of young people in the digital sphere.

In line with the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025, the North-South Centre has actively integrated digital citizenship as a running theme throughout most of its activities this year.

Through the HEY (Human Rights Education for Youth) programme, aimed at strengthening young people’s capacities to act for human rights through a series online tutored courses, the North-South Centre has been offering digital citizenship education on various topics in the digital sphere to young people. The HEY Media Information and Literacy course was launched this year, in both English and French. Preparations for the HEY course on Data Protection are on the way, to be launched in July 2025, and the launch of the HEY course on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human Rights is planned for October 2025.

This year’s Youth Summer Universities – the Mediterranean University on Youth and Global Citizenship (MedUni) and the University on Youth and Development (UYD) – will be zooming in on empowering youth for digital safety throughout their trainings and partner activities. The MedUni is set to take place in Hammamet, Tunisia, from 26 to 30 June 2025, whereas the UYD will take place in Mollina, Spain from 15 to 21 September 2025.

The Lisbon Forum, to be held in October 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal, will explore “AI and Global Governance: Rights, Representation and Readiness”, acting as an interregional platform for dialogue to discuss how to govern technologies in ways that uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law, as well as cultural diversity.

When addressing digital citizenship education, these activities also emphasise the importance of young people not only as right-holders, but also as active participants in the safeguarding and promotion of human rights. Such a human rights-based approach empowers individuals to become aware and actively promote their own rights and, in doing so, address the potential challenges inherent to the use of digital technologies whilst also maximising their benefits.

In light of the importance of integrating human rights protection within digital technologies, the Digital Citizenship Education Forum also aimed to create a roadmap for the future of digital citizenship education (DCE), with the main strategic directions identified as:

• Raising awareness and enhancing communication on the critical role od DCE in empowering learners to thrive ethically, responsibly, and effectively in a digitally connected world;
• Fostering education stakeholders’ engagement in the Council of Europe’s DCE framework;
• Establishing DCE as a long-term policy priority;
• Promoting international and cross-sectoral collaboration through meaningful partnerships and initiatives among public, private, and civil society stakeholders at all local, national, and international levels;
• Integrating DCE in education and training.

More Information

 Concept Note & Programme

 News: Digital Citizenship Education Forum: Let’s Act Now!