Topic: 2026 – Digital Equity for Children
Country: Denmark
Delegate Name: Victoria Kim
Kingdom of Denmark
United Nations Children’s Fund
Digital Equity for Children
Victoria Kim
City High Middle School
For over two decades, Denmark has been faced with the challenge of digital equity and we have attempted to combat this issue with our “digital-by-default” approach to public sector modernization that began in the late 1990s. Although Denmark has been strongly urging the digitalization of health and welfare services, people living in rural areas are at risk of being left behind technologically due to its population generally being older or having less access to education. Denmark has continued its path to universal connectivity, with 98% of households having access to 1 Gbps download speeds by 2025. In the midst of being the first country to appoint a Tech Ambassador, Denmark views digital equity as a diplomatic and human rights issue, rather than a technical one. A key aspect of this committee is defining the broad topic of digital equity for children, as it is not a fixed concept, rather an evolving and context-dependent framework. Whether it is digital isolation due to residence, parental literacy gaps, or low-income conditions, digital inequity must be addressed through a unified global strategy that secures both digital connectivity and guarantees the safety of technology users.
As a global leader in digital infrastructure, Denmark’s concerns of a “digital divide” has sparked since 1999 as the government launched initiatives to include vulnerable populations into the digital population. Denmark consistently ranks #1 in the UN E-Government Survey (2018, 2020, 2022, 2024), giving it the “moral authority” to lead on digital topics. Recently, Denmark has announced a national age of 15 for social media, aiming for a “Digital Wellbeing” country that focuses on educational and purposeful use of digital technologies. Through the Danish-UNICEF Strategy 2022-2025, Denmark has been a major core donor and prioritizes quality education and child protection in digital settings.
Denmark believes that resolutions should be centered around The Education-Labor Nexus, allowing vocational education for rural youth and leading directly to work opportunities; and reducing homework gaps, partnering with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to ensure children can access sites including Wikipedia without expensive technology. Furthermore, Denmark intends to initiate a project to include rural and elderly populations to pair youth workers with vulnerable populations to ensure a digitally literate home condition for children. As a digitally aware nation, Denmark hopes to encourage the use of digital technologies, however, we hope to recover the analogue and digital balance in classrooms for children, prioritizing mental health and a longer attention span. Denmark urges the UNICEF committee to adopt a “Safety First” approach and dealing with digital access with age protection, through measures including Denmark’s MitID, our national e-ID system that allows age verification before use.
