Spain launches international coalition on children’s rights and AI protection
Spain and partner countries and organisations have launched a UN-based coalition to promote child safety, rights protection and accountability in the development and use of AI.
Spain has launched the International Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, together with around 20 countries and international organisations.
The initiative was presented on 7 July 2026 during the first United Nations Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance in Geneva. Spain launched the coalition with support from France, Kenya and the European Union.
The coalition aims to ensure that AI systems respect children’s safety, healthy development and rights. It is based on the view that AI is rapidly changing the digital spaces where children learn, communicate and interact.
Spain’s Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Administration, Óscar López, said governments should not repeat with AI the same mistakes made with social media. He said children’s rights must also be protected in digital environments and called for stronger accountability for companies that profit from children’s data.
The coalition has been joined by countries including Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Korea, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Morocco, the Netherlands and Spain. International organisations including UNICEF, UNESCO, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Telecommunication Union and the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies are also involved.
The coalition will seek cooperation between governments, UN agencies, technology companies, civil society, child welfare experts and education professionals. Its focus is on ensuring that AI systems affecting children are safe by design and aligned with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The approved document identifies several risks linked to AI, including manipulation, harmful content, deepfake-based child sexual abuse material, and algorithmic targeting of minors.
Signatories commit to promoting safe, reliable and trustworthy AI systems that respect children’s rights and follow a human-centred approach. They also commit to sharing best practices and ensuring that children’s views are meaningfully considered in the design, deployment and governance of AI systems that affect them.
Spain also linked the coalition to its broader AI governance agenda. López said AI must be governed by reliable standards, safety-by-design principles, scientific evidence and human oversight. He also referred to age verification tools that protect privacy as part of efforts to reduce online harm to children.
Spain said it has supported the EU ban on AI systems that generate non-consensual sexual deepfakes and child sexual abuse material, and has worked on interoperable age verification tools within the European framework.
