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 2023 Concluding Observations on Mauritius. 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 Mauritius 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 (16) emerges as the most pressing priority, driven by high scores for cybercrime and cybersecurity laws and digitalized systems, alongside attention to training of professionals. Online Safety & Protection (12) also stands out as a high-priority area, reflecting strong attention to safeguarding frameworks and awareness measures.
Medium priority
Violence & Exploitation Online (9) receives moderate attention, with a focus on online sexual exploitation (CSAM), as well as online harassment and trafficking and exploitation. This indicates recognition of a range of risks, though they are less prioritised compared to structural and policy-related areas.
Low priority
Privacy & Data Protection (2) receives limited attention, focused only on children’s digital privacy rights. Digital Access & Participation (0) and Digital Health & Well-being (0) are not addressed, indicating gaps in access, inclusion, and wellbeing-related issues.
Overview themes
- Digital Access & Participation
- Digital Health & Well-Being
- Infrastructure & Capacity
- Online Safety & Protection
- Privacy & Data Protection
- Violence & Exploitation Online
Infrastructure & Capacity dominates the landscape, highlighting strong focus on legal frameworks and digital systems. Online Safety & Protection also receives substantial attention, particularly in safeguarding policies and awareness efforts. Violence & Exploitation Online is recognised but with comparatively lower priority, despite covering multiple forms of harm. In contrast, Digital Access & Participation, Privacy & Data Protection, and Digital Health & Well-being receive limited or no attention, pointing to important gaps in coverage.
Online Safety and Portection
- Awareness campaigns on safe internet use
- Complaint & Reporting mechanisms
- Safeguarding policies and accountability in digital media
Online Safety & Protection shows high priority (12), with attention focused on safeguarding policies and accountability in digital media and awareness campaigns on safe internet use. This indicates a balanced approach between prevention and structural protection measures. However, the absence of complaint and reporting mechanisms suggests gaps in response systems.
Infrastructure and capacity
- Cybercrime and cybersecurity laws
- Digitalized systems
- Training of professionals on online offences
Infrastructure & Capacity is the most prominent theme (16), with strong emphasis on cybercrime and cybersecurity laws, followed by digitalized systems and training of professionals. This suggests a comprehensive focus on strengthening both legal frameworks and technical systems. The inclusion of professional training indicates some attention to capacity-building, though to a lesser extent.
Digital health and wellbeing
Digital Health & Well-being is not addressed (0), with no references to mental health, screen time, or support services. This indicates that children’s digital wellbeing is not currently prioritised. It highlights a significant gap in awareness and policy focus.
Violence and exploitation online
Violence & Exploitation Online receives high priority (9), with attention to online sexual exploitation (CSAM), as well as online harassment and trafficking and exploitation. This highlights a broad recognition of risks faced by children online. The distribution suggests that exploitation is a key concern, though other harms receive comparatively less emphasis.
Privacy and data protection
Privacy & Data Protection receives limited attention (2), focused solely on children’s digital privacy rights. Other areas, such as data protection practices, surveillance, and AI, are not addressed. This suggests a narrow scope and underdeveloped approach to data governance.
Digital access and participation
Digital Access & Participation is not addressed (0), with no references to access, infrastructure, or inclusion. This indicates limited visibility into children’s ability to engage in digital environments. The absence suggests a gap in both policy attention and reporting.
Concluding Observations CRC
- “The high level of sexual exploitation and abuse of children, including in the context of travel and tourism, prostitution and through online sexual abuse material, the significant underreporting and investigation of such cases and the lack of disaggregated data collected on its prevalence, its different manifestations and its treatment through the criminal justice system;”
- “Strengthen the professional capacity and improve the software tools to detect and investigate child sexual abuse and exploitation online and promote training for parents and teachers about online risks and the risks associated with sexting;”
- Strengthen implementation of the legislative provisions in place to protect the privacy of children, including by developing additional regulations and safeguarding policies for the media and the digital environment;”
- “Finalize the renewed National Child Protection Strategy and Action Plan (2014–2022), ensuring that it also addresses child safety in the digital environment, prioritizes marginalized and disadvantaged children, allocates adequate resources for its implementation and defines clear lines of responsibility for its implementing partners;”
- “Strengthen awareness-raising on bullying against and among children, including in schools, placing special focus on cyberbullying;”
- “Strengthen the Domestic Violence Information System to include data on violence against children, ensuring that the data is disaggregated by age, sex, disability, geographical location, nationality and socioeconomic background, as well as information on the outcome of reported incidents, and share such data among relevant stakeholders in the development and evaluation of strategies and programmes to address violence against children.”
- “The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen the national mechanism for reporting and follow-up and ensure that its secretariat, hosted by the Human Rights Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, has adequate human, technical and financial resources to effectively coordinate and prepare reports for submission to international and regional human rights mechanisms and to coordinate and track national follow-up to and implementation of recommendations from all human rights mechanisms, including the use of the national recommendations tracking database. The Committee emphasizes that the national mechanism for reporting and follow-up should be adequately and continuously supported by dedicated staff drawn from various government ministries and should have the capacity to consult systematically with the National Human Rights Commission of Mauritius, the Ombudsperson for Children and civil society.”
- “Ensure that all perpetrators of offences related the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography are prosecuted and duly sanctioned and undertake CRC/C/MUS/CO/6-7 8 GE.23-02456 all appropriate measures to increase the awareness of such crimes among children and parents and in society at large, with the aim of preventing those crimes and ensuring their early detection”
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Mauritius
2023
Digital Child Rights Network
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