EuroDIG 2012

At the 2012 EuroDIG in Stockholm eNACSO was represented by five members and the coordinator: Agnieszka Wrzesien, Astrid Winkler, Katalin Baracsi, Georg Ehrmann, John Carr and Marie Bach Drivsholm.

eNACSO was focal point for the workshop “Child protection and child empowerment: two sides of the same coin?

Deborah Bergamini, Sub-Committee on Media and Information Society, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
John Carr, eNASCO
Albert Geisler Fox, 15 years old, Youth representative, Denmark
Erik van der Sandt, Office of the Dutch Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings
Adelina Trolle Andersen, 17 years old, Youth representative, Norway

Each panelist discussed their views on the direction they see the Internet is moving when it comes to the variety of issues that impact young people’s use of the Internet. The discussion was also opened for participants from the floor.

Children and young people do not see the Internet as being separate from the real world – the Internet is part of their lives. The need to involve more youth in the discussions on the shape of Internet was stressed, as young people are not only the future, but also want to be seen as the present. It was stated that: “We are not just young people waiting to become adults, we are simply young people and we want to be included and heard as such”.

Children have the right to information and the right to protection, however the means of protecting children change as the Internet develops. Children have different levels of knowledge when it comes to surfing the Internet and many of them use various Internet services without fully understanding them. Parents are responsible for children’s online safety education, however they also need to be empowered to be capable to empower their children.

Read the entire report of the workshop here

Furthermore the eNACSO members took part in several other workshops and plenaries and asked questions to include the child focus in relevant debates.

About EuroDIG:

EuroDIG is the specifically European extension of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). EuroDIG is a key arena for eNACSO’s work because it brings together a wide range of stakeholders and opinion formers whom we need to reach to ensure that the online child protection message gets across at the highest level. Read more about the EuroDIG here