WTDC Resolution 67
WTDC RESOLUTION 67 (Hyderabad, 2010)
The role of the Telecommunication Development Sector in child online protection
The World Telecommunication Development Conference (Hyderabad, 2010),
- recognizing
- a) that there is an urgent need and global demand for the protection of children from exploitation and exposure to danger and deception when using the Internet or information and communication technology (ICT), given that these innocent children represent the future of humankind and are the youth of the future;
- b) that many of them will participate in the youth programmes of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) and will become active members in the development of coordination mechanisms with youth forums,
- recalling
- a) the memorandum of understanding between the secretariat of the Union and Child Helpline International (CHI);
- b) Resolution 1306 of the 2009 session of the ITU Council, under which a child online protection working group was set up, with the participation of Member States and Sector Members, and the group’s mandate defined by the ITU members in close collaboration with the secretariat of the Union;
- c) the outcomes of the first meeting of the group, most importantly the development of its terms of reference (which were agreed by the 2010 session of the Council) and the description of BDT’s activity in this regard, given that it is part of the initiatives of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITUD);
- d) that the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), bearing in mind that the need to extend particular care to the child has been stated in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924 and in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1959 and recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in particular in Articles 23 and 24), in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (in particular in Article 10) and in the statutes and relevant instruments of specialized agencies and international organizations concerned with the welfare of children;
- e) that, within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the States Parties undertook to protect the child from all forms of exploitation and sexual abuse, and for that purpose, in particular, to take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials (Article 34);
- f) that pursuant to Article 10 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (New York, 2000) on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, the States Parties shall take all necessary steps to strengthen international cooperation by multilateral, regional and bilateral arrangements for the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution and punishment of those responsible for acts involving the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography and child sex tourism; and shall also promote international cooperation and coordination between their authorities, national and international non-governmental organizations and international organizations;
- g) that the World Summit on the Information Society, in the Tunis Commitment of 2005 (§ 24), recognized the role of ICTs in the protection of children and in enhancing the development of children, urging Member States to strengthen action to protect children from abuse and defend their rights in the context of ICTs, emphasizing that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration; accordingly, the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (§ 90 q)) set forth the commitment to using ICTs as a tool to achieve the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals, by, inter alia, incorporating regulatory, self-regulatory and other effective policies and frameworks to protect children and young people from abuse and exploitation through ICTs into national plans of action and estrategies;
- h) that by Resolution 45 (Doha, 2006) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on the establishment of mechanisms for enhancing cooperation on cybersecurity, WTDC recognized the role of ICTs in the protection of children and in enhancing their development and that action to protect children from abuse and defend their rights in the context of ICTs should be strengthened, emphasizing that the best interests of the child are a key consideration,
- taking into account
- a) the growing development, diversification and spread of access to ICTs worldwide, in particular the Internet, and the increasingly widespread use thereof by children, at times with no control or guidance;
- b) the requirement for a multistakeholder approach in order to promote social responsibility in the ICT sector so as to effectively make use of the variety of tools available to build confidence in the use of ICT networks and services, reducing the risks identified for children,
- invites Member States
- 1 to join and participate actively in the Council Working Group on Child Online Protection (WG-COP) and related ITU activities, for the purposes of comprehensive discussion and exchange of information on legal, technical, organizational and procedural issues as well as capacity building and international cooperation for protecting children online;
- 2 to develop information, to educate and to create consumer-awareness campaigns targeting parents, teachers, industry and the population in general in order to make children aware of the risks to be found online,
- invites Sector Members
- to participate actively in WG-COP and in other ITU activities, in particular in ITU-D, with the aim of informing the ITU membership about technological solutions for protecting children online,
- instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau
- 1 to continue with the activities of the Child Online Protection initiative through Programme 2, encouraging collaboration with Question 22-2/1 of Study Group 1, with a view to providing guidance to Member States on strategies, best practices and cooperative efforts that can be promoted for the benefit of children;
- 2 to collaborate closely with WG-COP, with the aim of avoiding duplication of efforts and maximizing outputs relevant to protecting children online;
- 3 to coordinate with other similar initiatives being undertaken at national, regional and international level, with the objective of establishing partnerships to maximize efforts in this important area;
- 4 to encourage and support related projects conducted at the regional level, in close collaboration with the regional offices;
- 5 to submit a report on the results of implementation of this resolution to the next WTDC.
