Children

Despite being overlooked in the global education technologies (EdTech) landscape, the MENA region holds immense potential with over 250 million children and youth. Enhancing regulatory frameworks, technology access, and data protection can ensure quality education for all learners in the region.

Strategic investments in digital infrastructure, community learning hubs, and public-private partnerships are essential to provide all children, regardless of their socioeconomic background, with equal access to high-quality education and achieve equitable and inclusive digital education.

The upsurge in harmful digital practices targeting children raise concerns about the adequacy of protective measures under the ACRWC, and whether African youngsters are efficiently safeguarded. Recently adopted frameworks have been introduced to address these gaps and improve protection.

Addressing the systemic exploitation of teachers in the Philippines and Cambodia is essential for realising the full potential of educational technology. Only by dismantling the oppressive structures that overburden and underpay educators we can ensure equitable and effective education for all students.

Balkans medical professionals routinely subject women to unnecessary violence and humiliation whilst they are in labour, resulting in lasting injury, trauma, miscarriages and deaths of newborn infants. States must ensure women can give birth safely in a supportive atmosphere.

In the recently concluded Summit of the Future, the United Nations ambitiously pledged to ensure meaningful and systematic participation of youth in crucial multilateral dialogues. This comes as young human rights defenders face ongoing barriers to engaging and empowering their communities.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has had a long-lasting disastrous impact on vulnerable children in state institutions. Children, including those with disabilities, have had to survive without essential resources and additional assistance while many have become victims of war crimes, including abduction.

In the MENA region, the pronounced gender digital divide hinders women's socio-economic equality. To prevent women from becoming second-class citizens in technology, a human rights-based approach to educational technology and changes in educational systems and cultural norms are needed.

Low-income and rural students in Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine have faced notable challenges during the transition to digital education. Government responses to these obstacles, often falling short, show the need for improved strategies and international support to ensure equitable access to quality education.

The deepening digital divide in the Philippines and Cambodia is scrutinised to highlight its impact on educational inequities exacerbated by COVID-19. There is an urgent need for structural reforms that goes beyond posturing and techno-related solutions to ensure equitable access to quality education.