1. Digital Access & Participation
2. Digital Health & Wellbeing
3. Infrastructure & Capacity
4. Online safety & Protection
5. Privacy & Data Protection
6. Violence & Exploitation Online

Belgium’s highest urgency is found in Infrastructure & Capacity, which dominates the dataset and reflects repeated concerns about digital systems, governance structures, and the country’s preparedness to manage digital risks. A medium-urgency issue is identified in Online Safety & Protection, where the Committee raises some concerns but far fewer compared to structural capacity issues. Violence & Exploitation Online also appears at a medium-to-low level, with only isolated mentions that lack systematic follow-up. All other digital child rights themes show low or no urgency, largely due to the near-absence of references in the Concluding Observations. This limited coverage is likely explained by the fact that Belgium’s review occurred before the publication of General Comment No. 25 (2021), meaning digital child rights were not yet systematically assessed by the CRC at that time.

1. Cybercrime and cybersecurity laws
2. Training of professionals on online offences
3. Digitalized systems

The CRC’s assessment for Belgium shows that online harassment and bullying is the only sub-theme receiving an urgency score, indicating a moderate level of concern. Other forms of online harm such as CSAM, trafficking, and discriminatory violence, receive no mentions, suggesting these issues were not highlighted in Belgium’s review. Overall, the CRC’s focus remains narrow, with minimal attention concentrated on peer-to-peer online abuse rather than broader digital exploitation risks.

The CRC’s assessment for Belgium shows that online harassment and bullying is the only sub-theme receiving an urgency score, indicating a moderate level of concern. Other forms of online harm such as CSAM, trafficking, and discriminatory violence receive no mentions, suggesting these issues were not highlighted in Belgium’s review. Overall, the CRC’s focus remains narrow, with minimal attention concentrated on peer-to-peer online abuse rather than broader digital exploitation risks.

1. “While welcoming the establishment of 40 national indicators on children’s rights, the Committee regrets that data collection remains fragmented and that children in the most vulnerable situations, such as children in poverty, children with disabilities and children separated from parents, have not been included in such indicators.”
2. “To improve its centralized data-collection system, including by reviewing the national indicators on the rights of the child that should cover all areas of the Convention and be disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic and national origin, urban or rural area, geographic location, disability, migration and socioeconomic status, in order to facilitate analysis of the situation of all children;…”
3. “Strengthen data collection in order to formulate a comprehensive strategy for preventing and combating child abuse and neglect;…”
4. “Establish a national database of cases of sexual exploitation and abuse with a view to formulating a national action plan for preventing and combating all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and harmonize related action plans at the community and regional levels, and establish mechanisms to monitor and evaluate such action plans;…”
5. “To improve the collection of data on children with disabilities, in particular very young children and children with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, in order to inform the policies in all regions in consultation with children with disabilities and their representative organizations;…”
6. “To strengthen measures to combat bullying, including cyberbullying, that encompasses prevention, early detection mechanisms, the empowerment of children and professionals, intervention protocols and harmonized guidelines for the collection of case-related data.”
7. “Establish a centralized and comprehensive data system on human trafficking;…”