emirates7 - Participants in the “Child Digital Safety” Forum, organised by the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department under the slogan “Towards a Safe and Sustainable Digital Environment for Future Generations”, discussed the legislative developments introduced by Federal Decree-Law No. (26) of 2025 concerning Child Digital Safety. This coincided with the law’s entry into force and aims to enhance the protection of children in the digital space and ensure a safe environment.
This comes within the framework of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department’s commitment to raising legal and judicial awareness of the provisions of the new law and clarifying the roles of the relevant entities, in order to ensure the integration of roles between the family, digital platforms, internet service providers, and judicial authorities.
The forum, held remotely via the virtual platform of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Academy over the course of two days, brings together a distinguished group of experts and specialists from within the country and abroad. It is attended by a number of lawyers and legal consultants, representatives of the technology and telecommunications sector, governmental and regulatory bodies, professionals working in the educational and social sectors, child caregivers, and child protection specialists.
The forum sessions addressed several key themes, including the legislative axis, relating to the objectives of the law, its scope of application, and mechanisms for classifying digital platforms according to risk levels; the technical and institutional axis, which examined the obligations of digital platforms and internet service providers with regard to age verification, data protection, and parental control tools; the social and family axis, focusing on the role of child caregivers and the legal responsibilities arising from negligence; and the judicial and security axis, which reviewed mechanisms for reporting unlawful content, blocking procedures, and the administrative penalties prescribed for violations.
The sessions of the first day of the forum, moderated by Counsellor Mansour Al Marzouqi, President of the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court, included series of presentations and discussions.
Maryam bint Ahmed Al Hammadi, Minister of State and Secretary-General of the Cabinet, delivered an analytical overview of the objectives and scope of Federal Decree-Law No. (26) of 2025, the governance framework, and the proposed vision for the platform classification system, along with leading benchmark comparisons in this field.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ahmed Abdel Zaher, Legal Adviser at the Technical Office of the Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, focused in his presentation entitled “Smart Child Protection: Parental Authority in the Digital Age” on digital protection tools and technologies, age verification mechanisms, and parental control tools.
Judge Colleen O’Toole, former Appeal Court Judge and former Public Prosecutor in the United States of America, discussed “Human Rights in the Child’s Digital Environment”, with a particular focus on the legal obligations of parents, the limits of privacy, and the risks associated with children’s negative exposure through digital platforms.
Dr. Sami Ismail Al Tokhi, Director of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Academy, presented a paper entitled “The Abu Dhabi Legislative Laboratory for Child Protection”, in which he reviewed experimental legislative mechanisms, digital safety assessment indicators, and methods for enforcing the new law through cooperation between judicial, governmental, and civil entities.
This comes within the framework of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department’s commitment to raising legal and judicial awareness of the provisions of the new law and clarifying the roles of the relevant entities, in order to ensure the integration of roles between the family, digital platforms, internet service providers, and judicial authorities.
The forum, held remotely via the virtual platform of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Academy over the course of two days, brings together a distinguished group of experts and specialists from within the country and abroad. It is attended by a number of lawyers and legal consultants, representatives of the technology and telecommunications sector, governmental and regulatory bodies, professionals working in the educational and social sectors, child caregivers, and child protection specialists.
The forum sessions addressed several key themes, including the legislative axis, relating to the objectives of the law, its scope of application, and mechanisms for classifying digital platforms according to risk levels; the technical and institutional axis, which examined the obligations of digital platforms and internet service providers with regard to age verification, data protection, and parental control tools; the social and family axis, focusing on the role of child caregivers and the legal responsibilities arising from negligence; and the judicial and security axis, which reviewed mechanisms for reporting unlawful content, blocking procedures, and the administrative penalties prescribed for violations.
The sessions of the first day of the forum, moderated by Counsellor Mansour Al Marzouqi, President of the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court, included series of presentations and discussions.
Maryam bint Ahmed Al Hammadi, Minister of State and Secretary-General of the Cabinet, delivered an analytical overview of the objectives and scope of Federal Decree-Law No. (26) of 2025, the governance framework, and the proposed vision for the platform classification system, along with leading benchmark comparisons in this field.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ahmed Abdel Zaher, Legal Adviser at the Technical Office of the Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, focused in his presentation entitled “Smart Child Protection: Parental Authority in the Digital Age” on digital protection tools and technologies, age verification mechanisms, and parental control tools.
Judge Colleen O’Toole, former Appeal Court Judge and former Public Prosecutor in the United States of America, discussed “Human Rights in the Child’s Digital Environment”, with a particular focus on the legal obligations of parents, the limits of privacy, and the risks associated with children’s negative exposure through digital platforms.
Dr. Sami Ismail Al Tokhi, Director of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Academy, presented a paper entitled “The Abu Dhabi Legislative Laboratory for Child Protection”, in which he reviewed experimental legislative mechanisms, digital safety assessment indicators, and methods for enforcing the new law through cooperation between judicial, governmental, and civil entities.