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Monitor Ghana

What is the status of digital children’s rights?

In this Digital Child Rights Monitor we give insight how the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) addressed digital child rights in its 2026 Concluding Observations on Ghana. The priority scale reflects how strongly the CRC highlights an issue in its recommendations — the higher the score, the bigger or more pressing the problem. This scale helps visualize which digital child rights issues the CRC considers most urgent and where Ghana faces its greatest challenges. If a country gets a low urgency score it does not necessarily mean the country is doing good, it just means the CRC made little to no mention to it.

Summary

High Priority

Infrastructure & Capacity (21) emerges as the most pressing priority, driven by high scores for digitalized systems and cybercrime and cybersecurity laws, alongside notable attention to training of professionals. Violence & Exploitation Online (13) and Digital Access & Participation (11) also stand out as high-priority areas, highlighting significant risks related to online harms as well as persistent challenges in access, infrastructure, and inclusion.

Violence & Exploitation Online also appears as a high-priority concern (6), signalling persistent risks such as online abuse, exploitation, or unsafe digital environments for children.

Medium Priority

Online Safety & Protection (10) receives moderate attention, with a balanced focus on awareness campaigns, complaint and reporting mechanisms, and safeguarding policies. This suggests a growing recognition of both preventive and responsive measures, although these systems may not yet be fully developed or effective.

Low Priority

Privacy & Data Protection (1) receives minimal attention, with only children’s digital privacy rights mentioned. Digital Health & Well-being (0) is not addressed at all, indicating a lack of focus on mental health, screen time, and broader wellbeing impacts in digital contexts.

Overview themes

  1. Digital Access & Participation
  2. Digital Health & Well-Being
  3. Infrastructure & Capacity
  4. Online Safety & Protection
  5. Privacy & Data Protection
  6. Violence & Exploitation Online

Infrastructure & Capacity dominates the landscape, reflecting substantial gaps in systems, legal frameworks, and professional capacity. Violence & Exploitation Online and Digital Access & Participation also receive strong attention, pointing to both significant risks and structural inequalities in digital access. Online Safety & Protection shows moderate development, with increasing focus on awareness and reporting mechanisms. In contrast, Privacy & Data Protection and Digital Health & Well-being remain underdeveloped or absent, highlighting important gaps in safeguarding children’s rights.

Violence and exploitation

  1. Discriminatory Violence
  2. Online Harrasment and Bullying
  3. Online sexual exploitation / CSAM
  4. Trafficking / exploitation through digital platforms

Violence & Exploitation Online is a high-priority theme (13), with concerns spanning online sexual exploitation (CSAM), online harassment, discriminatory violence, and trafficking and exploitation. This broad coverage highlights significant risks to children in digital environments. The distribution suggests recognition of multiple forms of harm, though all require continued attention.

Infrastructure and capacity

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

Infrastructure & Capacity is the most prominent theme (21), with strong emphasis on digitalized systems and cybercrime and cybersecurity laws, as well as attention to training of professionals. This indicates significant gaps in both technical systems and institutional readiness. The distribution suggests a broad recognition of the need to strengthen both infrastructure and capacity.

Digital health and wellbeing

Digital Health & Well-being is not addressed in the data (0), with no references to mental health, screen time, or support services. This absence suggests that the impact of digital environments on children’s wellbeing is not currently prioritised. It points to a significant gap in both awareness and policy focus.

Online safety and protection

Online Safety & Protection shows moderate priority (10), with attention distributed across awareness campaigns, complaint and reporting mechanisms, and safeguarding policies. This balanced focus indicates growing efforts to address both prevention and response. However, the relatively lower score compared to other themes suggests these systems may still be developing.

Privacy and data protection

Privacy & Data Protection receives minimal attention (1), limited to children’s digital privacy rights. Other key areas, such as data protection practices, surveillance, and AI, are not addressed. This indicates a narrow focus and significant gaps in broader data governance and protection frameworks.

Digital access and participation

Digital Access & Participation receives high attention (11), with key concerns related to the digital divide and IT infrastructure, both scoring highest, alongside limited mention of civic participation via digital means. These findings highlight persistent inequalities in access and participation. Other areas, such as e-learning and inclusion of children with disabilities, are not addressed, suggesting gaps in ensuring equitable access.

Concluding Observations CRC

  1. “Expand mobile and online birth registration;.”
  2. “Enhance awareness-raising activities about the online risks, including child sexual exploitation and abuse, privacy risks and other harmful impacts.”
  3. “seriously concerned… The high incidence of domestic violence, gender-based violence and child abuse and neglect, with increased cases of child sexual abuse, including online and in tourism, while data to assess the magnitude of the problem is missing;”
  4. “Noting with concern the persisting disparities in accessing digital information and the increasing child safety risks in the digital environment, the Committee recalls its general comment No.25(2021) and recommends that the State party:.”
  5. “Expand the connectivity, internet access and digital knowledge programmes, such as the Digital Literacy Package, to rural, remote and marginalised areas;”
  6. “Continue to improve access to information and services in meaningful formats for children and adolescents, while ensuring that such information and services remain accessible to children who do not use or have access to digital technologies;”
  7. “Develop and implement a comprehensive child-rights based regulatory framework, including incentives for public and private companies and mechanisms to report for the purpose of prosecuting violations, to ensure children’s safety in the digital environment;”
  8. “Welcoming the information shared during the dialogue that the State party plans to establish a comprehensive child rights information management system in 2026, and recalling its general comment No. 5 (2003), the Committee urges the State party to establish a comprehensive data-collection system with disaggregated data covering all areas of the Convention and children in vulnerable situations, as previously recommended, 8 and a mechanism for data sharing across all duty bearers for comprehensive data monitoring and management, including by seeking technical assistance from UNICEF and UNDP.”
  9. “Systematically collect data on food security and nutrition for children, including those relevant to breastfeeding, stunting, underweight, wasting, and anaemia, to identify and address the root causes of child food insecurity and malnutrition;”
  10. “Develop and implement guidelines and codes of conduct for the media and training for journalists to protect children in the media and safeguard their privacy in reporting”
  11. “The Committee welcomes the progress achieved by the State party, including the ratification in 2016 of the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture and the 1993 Hague Convention No. 33 on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption; the adoption of the National Strategic Framework for the Elimination of Child Marriage (2017-2026); the adoption of laws, such as the 2020 Cybersecurity Act, the 2024 Affirmative Action Act and the 2025 Social Protection Act; the progress made in reducing child mortality and child marriage and in improving access to education, especially among girls, and the initial steps being taken to mobilise as much resources as possible from domestic sources for the purpose of education, health and social protection measures.”
  12. “Conduct community outreach programs and media campaigns to raise awareness on the importance and process of birth registration”

Ghana
2026

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