A/HRC/28/55 73. Widespread poverty and weak State structures compromise children’s social and legal protection and enhance the vulnerability of potential victims. In poorer countries, children who have access to the Internet without adult guidance and supervision, for instance in cybercafes, may be particularly vulnerable to online solicitation and their economic situation may pressure them into accepting risky propositions. Moreover, parental knowledge and awareness of the online risks children face may be lacking, limiting further the support and protection those children receive. The generational divide has become increasingly apparent in poorer urban areas and rural neighbourhoods, in low- and middle-income countries. 74. Geographic and socioeconomic considerations also determine the availability of technology, which in turn has an impact on children’s online experience and vulnerability. 75. In industrialized countries and advanced East Asian economies, much of children’s Internet access is from home.25 Increasingly, children access the Internet from their own rooms or from mobile devices, which further limits parental supervision and guidance. 76. In developing countries, children and young people are more likely to access the Internet at school, on mobile phones or from Internet cafes. Where such cafes are unregulated or inadequately supervised, there is a greater risk that children will encounter inappropriate online material or fall victim to offline solicitation or abuse by customers, staff or owners. In a survey conducted by Plan International in Brazil, children indicated that risks in badly managed “lan houses” (Internet cafes) include drug dealing and contact with unknown adults.26 77. Risks tend to increase with the growing availability of sophisticated mobile phones with Internet connectivity, which enable online activities to be conducted on smartphones rather than via computers in fixed locations. C. Towards a safe, inclusive and empowering digital agenda for children 78. The challenge of creating a safe, inclusive and empowering online environment for children lies in responses that strike the appropriate balance between ensuring that children benefit from the potential offered by ICTs, and securing their rights, including the right to freedom from violence. It is crucial to ensure an optimal balance between children’s curiosity, creativity, sense of innovation and freedom to learn, and their effective protection from harm. It is essential to enhance children’s confidence, resilience and empowerment to cope with potential risks. International human rights standards provide a sound framework to guide effective action in that field. Children’s rights online 79. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto, notably the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, provide important guidance for the realization of children’s rights online. 80. Offline and online, States are required to ensure that all measures, including legislative, policy and educational initiatives, are guided by the best interests of the child; respect and support children’s growing autonomy and agency; protect children from violence and safeguard them from the risk of discrimination, including when associated with a gender, social and economic digital divide. Those principles lay the foundation for 25 26 “Releasing children’s potential and minimizing risks”, p. 41. Ibid., p. 41. 13