Nigel Williams (dead March 2006) was a British children's rights activist, known for his engagement against child abuse on the internet. In 1995, he founded the

Childnet International Childnet International is a registered UK charity that aims to make the internet a safe place for children and young people. Activities Educational resources Childnet produce educational resources for children, parents and teachers about a ran ...

. In 2003, he was appointed as the first

Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) is a publicly funded post, with responsibility for protecting children's rights as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nigel Williams was the Commissioner fro ...

, a position he held until his death.

Internet child abuse countermeasures

In 1995, Williams founded and became the first CEO of

, a position he held until July 2003. Under his leadership, Childnet took the initiative to found the INHOPE association. He has also served on the boards of the

Internet Watch Foundation The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a registered charity based in Cambridge, England. It states that its remit is "to minimise the availability of online sexual abuse content, specifically child sexual abuse images and videos hosted anywhe ...

and the

Internet Content Rating Association Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) was an international non-profit organization with offices in the United States and the United Kingdom. In October 2010, the ICRA rating system, and the organization, was discontinued. Its mission was to h ...

Children's commissioner

In 2003, Williams became the first Commissioner for children and young people in Northern Ireland. In spite of illness, he continued to uphold this position until his death in 2006.

Honours

In January 2006, just a few months before his demise, Williams was awarded the " IFIP-WG9.2 Namur Award", which was "to be accorded for an outstanding contribution with international impact to the awareness of social implications of information technology", ''for his work on keeping children safe"''.

References

Year of birth missing Place of birth missing Children's Ombudsmen Ombudsmen in Northern Ireland {{UK-gov-bio-stub