The 20th anniversary of the Défenseur des Droits’ JADE programme: the e-Enfance / 3018 Association is committed to children’s rights

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Défenseur des Droits’ JADE (Young Ambassadors for Children’s Rights) programme, Samuel Comblez, Deputy Director-General of the e-Enfance Association / 3018, took part in this event, which celebrates two decades of commitment by young ambassadors to the rights of children and young people.

Every year, the JADE programme trains young people on civic service placements to provide information and raise awareness amongst children and teenagers about their rights through outreach activities in all settings where young people gather.

This 15-year partnership between the e-Enfance / 3018 Association and the Defender of Rights is based on a shared conviction: children’s rights must be protected wherever young people are. Today, this protection must also extend to digital spaces, as children’s rights apply online too: the right to respect, to privacy and to safety. This vigilance is all the more necessary given that instances of bullying can continue online and take the form of cyberbullying.

In order to address the realities faced by young people, the training courses offered by the Association’s facilitators are updated each year to incorporate new digital challenges, such as: artificial intelligence, mental health, masculinist discourse, online anti-Semitism, and the influence of algorithms on the information young people are exposed to and on their online behaviour.

Training JADE members means equipping young people to understand the challenges of the digital world, to identify the risks they may face, to defend their own rights and those of others, and to become ambassadors for a safer, more respectful and more humane digital world.

Through this partnership, the e-Enfance / 3018 Association is continuing its commitment to a digital environment that is safer, more respectful and better at protecting children’s rights. At a time when bullying no longer stops at the school gates and often continues online, it is essential that young people know their rights and understand how to ensure they are upheld. For whilst the internet has become an integral part of daily life, the rights of minors must be upheld there with the same rigour as everywhere else.

Find out more about the Défenseur des Droits’ JADE programme: https://www.defenseurdesdroits.fr/les-jeunes-ambassadeurs-des-droits-186