On 22 September 2026 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, French President Emmanuel Macron helped launch the Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of AI and unveiled its 2026–2027 roadmap.
The Elysee said the roadmap was advanced “on the margins of the High-Level Week of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly” and that France, Spain, Kenya and Australia co-chair the Coalition, which brings together states, UN entities, civil society and private-sector partners.
The Coalition will pursue work across three pillars, the Elysee wrote: sustaining political ambition through international milestones to 2027; advancing deliverables via thematic working groups on safety, privacy by design, benchmarking and accountability; and consolidating UN system work through a shared operational repository.
The Elysee quoted President Emmanuel Macron saying protecting children online is “a major public health imperative” and that AI “must not be placed in the hands of children without first being tested, evaluated, and therefore authorized.”
The Coalition document calls for developing pre-authorisation processes for AI systems aimed at children and for accelerated voluntary action, including open access to developers’ models and data for independent researchers, the Elysee added.
The Elysee said the Coalition intends to present its first voluntary commitments under this initiative at the Paris Peace Forum on 10–11 November 2026, linking the roadmap to a timetable for concrete pledges.
Why it matters: Emmanuel Macron and partners framed the effort as building on the G7’s Evian Call and national approaches such as Australia’s duty-of-care framework, aiming to combine political momentum, shared assessment methods and independent research to protect children in digital and AI environments.
Sources
- Elysee — launch of the Coalition’s 2026–2027 roadmap in New York, co-chairs, quoted statements and the plan to present voluntary commitments in November.
- Paris Peace Forum — listing of the Paris Peace Forum dates and initiatives where commitments will be presented.
Related coverage: United Nations opens UNGA 81 general debate and OpenAI discloses six ‘concerning’ incidents.
