Child Protection In Cyberspace Global Summit To Be Held In Riyadh

Riyadh: The Child Protection in Cyberspace (CPC) Global Summit will take place 2-3 October in Riyadh, bringing together key stakeholders from around the world to collaborate to ensure children are safe and protected in Cyberspace. The summit is being held in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF), the DQ Institute, and WeProtect Global Alliance.

“Protecting children online is a shared responsibility,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “With today’s children spending an increasing amount of time online, it is more crucial than ever to protect and empower them. The Child Protection in Cyberspace Global Summit will bring together leaders from all sectors to ensure our youngest users can thrive online.”

Held in conjunction with the GCF Annual Meeting 2024, the Summit will convene leading figures from government, international organizations, academia, and the private sector to explore multistakeholder collaboration to enhance child protection in cyberspace. The second day of the summit will culminate in a high-level roundtable around the theme of ‘Advancing Collective Action for Child Protection in Cyberspace’.

"We must work together to make the internet a safe place for children to learn, socialize and express themselves,” said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF. “This Summit marks an important opportunity to coordinate global efforts to maximize the benefits of digital technology in children’s lives while protecting them from harm.”

The Summit aims to achieve four key objectives: consolidating global efforts and advancing collective action; enhancing the global response to pressing challenges; mitigating emerging threats facing children in cyberspace; and ensuring that CPC resonates with the agenda of global decision makers. These objectives are in line with the goals of the Child Protection in Cyberspace (CPC) initiative and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5, 16, and 17 under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“We are gathering in Riyadh because we all recognize that, as the risks to children in cyberspace grow in number and complexity, we must collaborate to develop innovative forms of partnerships to advance our collective efforts to protect them,” said H.E. Majed bin Mohammed Al-Mazyed, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s National Cybersecurity Authority, speaking on behalf of the GCF Board of Trustees.

The event will focus on finding pathways towards a safer cyberspace for children, including designing new collaborative approaches and mechanisms to enhance responsiveness and navigate the threats presented by emerging technologies.

“What we need today is coordinated, multistakeholder collaboration that enhances not only children’s safety and well-being in Cyberspace, but also their cyber literacy, as our highest priority,” said Dr. Yuyhun Park, founder of the DQ Institute.

A 2022 GCF global report found that 72% of children worldwide have experienced at least one type of cyber threat, with the most prevalent threats being unwanted ads and inappropriate images and content. In addition, nearly one in five children said they faced bullying or unwanted sexual approaches.

“Child exploitation is an urgent and growing problem. We need to focus on preventing harm and work together for a cyberspace that is designed to be safer to protect children across the globe from exploitation,” said Iain Drennan, Executive Director of WeProtect Global Alliance.