Introduction
Children and young people are very important to the BBC. We aim to provide them with challenging, educative, enjoyable and interesting content to help them make sense of the world in which they live. They also interact with us in many different ways - as contributors, actors, presenters and via our online and interactive services.
It is not always easy to strike a balance between the competing interests of the children who participate in our output, and the views and ambitions of their parents or our audiences. But we must always safeguard the welfare of the children and young people who contribute to our content, wherever in the world we operate, which includes their right to speak out and to participate.
For the purposes of the BBC Editorial Guidelines, a child is someone under the age of 15 years. Young people are those aged 15, 16 and 17. However, these are not legal definitions.