For children and their families, the digital and physical world are seamlessly connected. Parents and carers have a key role to play in guiding their children through the digital environment and in making sense of both positive and negative experiences. This role should be recognised and supported through a strong regulatory framework, ongoing dialogue and sharing of experiences between parents/carers, children and other stakeholders, awareness raising and evidence-based support and prevention measures. Children's exposure to harmful risks online should be reduced without compromising their opportunities to benefit from the positive impact of digital technologies. Families are diverse and need a wide range of support measures from different policy areas, such as social, family, health, education and digital policies.
Led by this firm understanding the members of COFACE come together for a series of events in Athens in mid-March. The Conference Families in the age of Artificial Intelligence: Rights, inclusion and empowerment brought together experts, policy makers and civil society representatives. We explored how AI can support families while safeguarding rights, inclusion and equality. The key discussions covered topics like ffuture of work; online safety; inclusive care and education; financial inclusion.
During the meeting of the Safer Internet Working group we discussed key EU developments and presentations at the AI conference on the previous day, next steps and position paper on digital wellbeing. We also talked about a number of key areas including preventing child sexual abuse online, providing support to parents and carers, the role of the tech industry in designing safe products for children and their families, as well as recent trends in banning smartphones from schools.
Meetings of the Administrative Council and the General Assembly also took place. Alongside important governance discussions, including the annual report, budget and priorities for the year ahead, the meeting is also a valuable moment to exchange, connect and reflect on key issues affecting families across Europe.
