France, Spain, Kenya, and Australia, as co-chairs, unveil a roadmap backed by 26 States and eight UN entities.
New York, 22 September 2026
On the margins of the High-Level Week of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Coalition for Children's Rights and Protection in the Age of AI today advanced its 2026–2027 roadmap, at a high-level event bringing together Heads of State and Government, United Nations entities, civil society and private-sector partners.
Launched on 7 July 2026 by France, Spain and Kenya during the first United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance, later joined by Australia, the Coalition now brings together 23 States and eight UN system entities – the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UNESCO, UNICEF, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology (ODET), the UN Department of Global Communications, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children (SRSG-VAC) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The coalition is joined by civil society organisations, technology companies, educators, academia and child rights and safety experts, around a single conviction: every child should be able to benefit from artificial intelligence in conditions that protect their safety, their rights and their development. This work builds in particular on the commitments made under the G7's Evian Call for a Safer Digital Space for Minors, and draws on emerging national approaches to platform accountability – including Australia's ‘duty of care’ framework – as reference points for a coherent, science-based approach to children's safety in the digital and AI environment.
AI systems that claim to bring benefits to children should, over time, be subject to pre-authorisation processes before they reach the market. Developing the evidence base and shared assessment approaches that make this possible is precisely the purpose of the work launched today. In the meantime, the Coalition is calling for accelerated, voluntary action through open access to the AI developers’ models and data for independent researchers, as well as commitments from companies.
The Coalition will pursue its work across three pillars: sustaining a high level of political ambition through a calendar of international milestones running through 2027; advancing concrete deliverables, alongside thematic working groups including on safety and privacy by design, benchmarking and accountability, the fight against AI-generated child sexual abuse material and deepfakes, and AI literacy; and consolidating the United Nations system's work through a shared operational repository of initiatives and evidence.
To support these objectives, the Coalition will take forward work on a global network of research centres drawn from the public, academic and private sectors, and will invite companies, foundations and other partners to fund independent research into AI's impact on children and to open access to their models for independent evaluation. The Coalition intends to present its first voluntary commitments under this initiative at the Paris Peace Forum on 10–11 November 2026.
Statements by the co-chairs:
France – President Emmanuel Macron: “Protecting children online is a major public health imperative, proven and documented by scientists around the world. That is why France has made it a priority, notably by banning the use of social media for minors under the age of 15. We uphold and share this priority with the same level of commitment when it comes to artificial intelligence. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past and wait twenty years to see the impact of chatbots on minors. We must act now. Together with the Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of AI, we are sending a clear message: AI must not be placed in the hands of children without first being tested, evaluated, and therefore authorized. This effort must involve all stakeholders: see you in November at the Paris Peace Forum for the next step.”
Spain – Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez: “It is possible to restore hope in the future of technology. But it requires clear boundaries, accountability, and cooperation: AI must work for humanity, never the other way around.”
Kenya – President William Ruto: “Children experience technology differently across the world. For many African children, access to technology is also access to education, knowledge, healthcare and opportunity. Our response cannot be to deny them that access. We must expand access while making technology safer by design, so that every child can learn, create and participate while being protected from harm.”
Australia – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: “To keep children safe, we must work together and use our power and agency to shape the digital future. I’m so proud of the work Australia has done, led by parents, to ban social media for under 16s and give children precious breathing space. Australia’s building on this work, including with new proposed laws - My Feed, My Way – to put choice back into the hands of Australians over algorithms. As AI capabilities advance, so will the risks, and the need to work across borders to shape AI, rather than have it shape us. No country can manage these risks alone, we must work together”.
