Digital - Eurochild’s achievements in 2025
Annual Report 2025.
2025 was a crucial year for advancing children’s rights online, given the high number of EU initiatives under discussion. Eurochild consolidated its role as a recognised civil society voice on children’s rights in the digital environment. Eurochild published its position paper on children’s rights in the digital environment (after consultations By combining coalition leadership, member mobilisation and direct engagement with children, Eurochild ensured that children’s rights informed discussions on digital policies, including online safety and safety-by-design approaches.
Together with ECLAG, Eurochild’s advocacy contributed to maintaining political attention on the proposed Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse. The Council’s position adopted in November 2025 reflected some of our long-standing advocacy priorities, including protection from all forms of abuse and stronger safety-by-design measures. Together with ECLAG partners, Eurochild sustained momentum throughout negotiations, notably through a Week of Action that combined a campaign, public stunt and policy event bringing together civil society organisations, the European Commission and industry representatives. Within the Western Balkans Eurochild cooperated with members in an initiative (TOMAS) that addressed the problem of online sexual exploitation of children by supporting alignment of national laws with the EU proposal for a Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse, which resulted in a report on how the Balkan countries can align with the EU legislation on digital safety, as well as an advocacy and grassroots lobbying guidebook.
Eurochild also closely monitored the implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA), including by influencing the European Commission’s Guidelines on the Protection of Minors Online, particularly under Article 28, as well as the first report under Article 35(2) DSA. Our continued participation in the Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) Advisory Board further strengthened Eurochild’s role in shaping EU digital policy discussions.
In parallel, Eurochild contributed to the European Parliament’s own-initiative report on the protection of minors online, working with organisations and experts across Europe to push for stronger standards and to address remaining shortcomings. We also contributed to the EU Action Plan against Cyberbullying.
Children’s participation remained central to this work. Eurochild’s NOVA Council, established in April 2025, brought together children aged 12 to 16 from six European countries to contribute directly to law- and policy-making processes on children’s safety online. In October 2025, the NOVA Council developed powerful advocacy messages for policymakers on how to make the online world safer for children, which were showcased during the ECLAG policy event. In addition, an accessible version of our previous research, Speaking Up for Child Safety Online, based on the views of around 500 children and more than 6,000 caregivers, was developed with the involvement of the current and former Eurochild Children’s Council.
Eurochild actively contributed to the global initiative Protection through Online Participation (PoP), which aims to ensure that children can safely and effectively access protection and support through digital platforms, when experiencing any form of violence or harm - online or offline. PoP is a global, multi-stakeholder initiative under ITU’s Child Online Protection (COP) Programme, co-led with the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children (SRSG-VAC).
Finally, Eurochild strengthened the capacity and resilience of child rights organisations at the national level to advocate for online child safety. Through coordination, information sharing, and capacity-building sessions, we supported members on issues ranging from EU policy developments to technical knowledge on safety-by-design and age-assurance methods.
