Countering Cyberbullying

A/HRC/RES/51/10No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2022.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 2022–2024

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/57/6

2024A/HRC/RES/57/6Countering cyberbullyingLatestCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/51/10Countering cyberbullying

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Child Abuse Corporate Social Responsibility Crime Prevention Digital Technology Harassment Persons with Disabilities Rights of the Child

What does this mandate say?

22 operative paragraphs

Affirms that human rights and fundamental freedoms must be protected, online and offline, with special regard for the rights of the child;

Acknowledges the importance of ensuring appropriate safeguards and human oversight in the application of new and emerging digital technologies and of respecting and promoting human rights, with the best interests of the child as a primary consideration, to guide relevant regulatory frameworks and legislation, and safeguards on the conception, design, use, development, further deployment and impact assessments of new and emerging digital technologies, while ensuring the meaningful participation of all stakeholders, including States, children’s organizations and children themselves, parents, legal guardians and family members, the private sector, academia, civil society and organizations of persons with disabilities;

Calls upon States:

To continue to take all appropriate measures to prevent and protect children from all forms of discrimination and violence, including in digital contexts, in particular cyberbullying, by promptly responding to it, and to provide appropriate support to victims affected by and involved in cyberbullying;

To establish well-trained and well-resourced bodies in charge of preventing, countering and addressing the adverse effects of cyberbullying, or strengthen such units if they already exist, and to provide them with adequate financial support and capacity-building and specialist training opportunities;

To promote inclusive, comprehensive and quality education and education opportunities for all children, without discrimination of any kind, to foster, inter alia, digital literacy and the technical skills required to effectively protect their privacy;

To continue to promote and invest in education, including human rights education, as a long-term and lifelong process, through which everyone learns equality, non-discrimination, non-violence, tolerance, inclusion and respect for the dignity of others and the means and methods of ensuring such respect in all societies, including in digital contexts;

To generate and analyse statistical information and data disaggregated by gender, age, disability, race, socioeconomic status, national or ethnic origin and other characteristics relevant in national contexts, with regard to the problem of cyberbullying, as a basis upon which to elaborate and promote effective evidence-based public policies;

To integrate online protection into national child protection policies, and to adopt and strengthen, as appropriate, clear and comprehensive measures, including where relevant legislation, that seek to prevent and protect children from cyberbullying;

To provide for safe, child- gender- and disability-sensitive counselling and reporting procedures, within and outside of schools, and safeguards for the rights of affected children, including considering the empowerment of a public authority to receive complaints regarding cases of cyberbullying and to intercede with content hosts to have the relevant material promptly removed;

To ensure a clear and predictable legal and regulatory environment, which requires information and communications technology and other relevant industries to respect the rights of the child and which strengthens regulatory agencies’ responsibility for the development of standards for the protection of the rights of the child;

To involve and provide children with the opportunity to inclusively and meaningfully participate in the development of initiatives to prevent and address cyberbullying, including available support services and safe, accessible, age- and child-sensitive, confidential and independent counselling and reporting mechanisms;

To guide children in promoting inclusive and responsible digital behaviour, and to inform them of available mental and physical health-care services and procedures in place to support them, where they exist, while encouraging the making of such support services available, to the extent possible;

To adopt and implement sustained and inclusive child-empowering non-formal and formal education programmes, providing children, parents, caregivers, teachers and other professionals working with and for children with basic skills relating to digital literacy, notably information and training on the online environment and its safe use, benefits and risks, in order to increase their awareness and capacity to adopt online coping strategies, including the identification, blocking and reporting of bullies, and to support children’s resilience, including by involving children, former victims, parents, civil society, schools, academia and relevant industries;

To continue to share national experiences and best practices for preventing and tackling cyberbullying and addressing its adverse effects;

Recognizes that the responsibility to respect the rights of the child also applies to private actors and business enterprises, and in particular encourages private actors in the Internet sector who provide or operate services across domestic jurisdictions to adhere to the highest available international standards for safety-, privacy- and security-by-design, in particular for children, and to continue to take part in international multistakeholder efforts to raise awareness and empower children about online risks and to prevent and counter cyberbullying;

Welcomes the continued collaboration of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children with human rights bodies and mechanisms, within their respective mandates, including the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, in order to support efforts to prevent and address all forms of violence against children, such as cyberbullying, in all settings;

Decides to convene a panel discussion on cyberbullying against children at its fifty-fourth session, inviting States, civil society organizations, including children’s organizations, United Nations agencies, the private sector, academia and other relevant stakeholders, ensuring participation of children themselves, to address the implementation of the obligations of States under relevant provisions of international human rights law and to discuss challenges and best practices in this regard, and to make it fully accessible;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a written report, and make it available in an accessible and Easy Read format, on countering cyberbullying against persons with disabilities, identifying recent trends and challenges, as well as applicable human rights principles, safeguards and best practices, and to present the report to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-sixth session;

Also requests the Office of the High Commissioner, when preparing the above-mentioned report, to consider the outcomes of the panel discussion and to closely cooperate with all relevant stakeholders, including States, international and regional organizations, relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council, the treaty bodies, other relevant United Nations offices, agencies, funds and programmes, within their respective mandates, national human rights institutions, civil society, in particular persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, the private sector and academia;

Requests that the contributions to the report be submitted in an accessible format, and that such stakeholder contributions and the report itself and an Easy Read of them be made available on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner, in an accessible format, prior to the presentation to the Human Rights Council;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

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