Children vs adults: negotiating UNCRC General comment No. 25 on childrens rights in the digital environment

Amidst debates shaping media and communications governance in the twenty-first century, children’s needs, aspirations and entitlements are often marginal if not invisible. To disrupt ‘adultist’ perspectives and set out a child rights approach to internet governance, this chapter documents the process of drafting General comment No. 25 on children’s rights in the digital environment. This is an authoritative interpretation of international law for states and other duty bearers on how the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child applies, and should be implemented, online and offline. In the multistakeholder effort to ensure that the digital environment supports and does not infringe children’s rights, the adoption of General comment No. 25 was a watershed moment. We examine how global consultations with the public, children and experts shaped the general comment text, focusing especially on tensions between protection and participation, around children’s age and ‘evolving capacity’, and in relation to ‘best interests.’