On Monday, May 19th 2025, Marta Hoffmann, a post-doc in the „Democratic Innovations” research group took part in a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski. The meeting was aimed at handing over the recommendations from the Children and Youth Citizens’ Assembly which took place in March and April this year. The Assembly observed by members of “Democratic Innovations” research group was not only the first event of this kind in Poland addressed to young people aged 15-18, but also the only one, so far, organised under the auspices of the central state authorities. It was aimed at developing recommendations for the Ministry that is currently preparing a law to protect children and young people from harmful content on the Internet. After a series of educational meetings (22nd-23rd March) and deliberative ones (12th-13th April) 11 types of harmful content and 23 recommendations for the Ministry, supported by at least 80% of the panelists, were developed. The results of the Assembly are available here [link to the results].
During the meeting with the Minister of Digital Affairs, which was also attended by the Deputy Minister of Education, Paulina Piechna-Więckiewicz, representatives of the Field of Dialogue Foundation together with a panelist and NGOs that took part in the Assembly summarized the event and its results. Representatives of the Ministry responded to the recommendations by announcing the implementation of measures to better protect children and young people on the Internet. The Minister of Digital Affairs additionally emphasized the responsibility and maturity of young people visible in these recommendations. The final report from the Assembly will be published by the Field of Dialogue Foundation at the end of June this year.
Observation of the Children and Youth Citizens’ Assembly is compliant with the National Science Center-funded project Obserwacja Panelu Obywatelskiego Dzieci i Młodzieży wpisuje się w realizację projektu Deliberative Innovations in Central and Eastern Europe – a panacea for democracy in crisis? (DelibDemCEE) (Sonata Bis, project number: 2021/42/E/HS5/00155).
