Child Safety Online: Global Challanges and Strategies
- Document number
- 2860
- Date
- 2011
- Title
- Child Safety Online: Global Challanges and Strategies
- Author/publisher
- United Nation Children's Fund
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- child sexual exploitation, child rights, child trafficking
- Summary
- This report discusses the nature and scale of sexual abuse and exploitation of children and young people online and the types of crimes perpetrated against them. It considers the generational divide between parents and children in their knowledge of, and engagement with, the online environment and how this affects experiences and approaches to the Internet and its usage. The report outlines how children and young people across the world use the Internet, including an examination of specific online activities and experiences that have the potential to place them at risk. There is a focus on activities that involve interaction online and offline and an analysis of research findings about where children turn for support when things go wrong. The challenge for policymakers is not to get sidetracked into blaming the medium. Instead,it is to coordinate action by a range of public and private actors on a number of interrelated issues that ultimately come under the heading of ‘building a safer Internet'. These include integrating an understanding of the methods of child sexual abuse and exploitation into building Internet access; understanding child usage of ICT and working with young people on effective safety strategies; integrating awareness and understanding of online-related child abuse and exploitation into child protection systems; developing effective law enforcement against online-related child abuse and exploitation; and integrating child protection into effective law enforcement. While usage may still be less pervasive in low- and middle-income countries, protection is a challenge they will face in the imminent future that needs to be addressed now. The report also considers ways to build a safer environment for children and young people for whom the Internet is a basic social medium in which the online and offline worlds come together. It outlines relevant international law and key challenges to governments and law enforcement agencies in achieving greater protection for children and young people. It argues that a multitiered approach is necessary to challenge the potential threats to children's well-being and safety in the online environment. Accordingly, it concludes by putting forward a strategic protection framework with four main objectives: 1) empowering children and promoting their resilience; 2) removing impunity for abusers; 3) reducing availability of harmful material from the Internet and access to harm; and 4) promoting recovery and rehabilitation for children who have experienced harm.
- Related documents