Protecting children from online crimes

Deep in Ndirande, the most populous township in Blantyre City, one feature that catches one’s eye is noisy video showrooms.

Many passers-by are made to believe that what the viewers are shown are the videos on the posters displayed outside, but go inside the noisy halls, especially after sunset, and you will get a shocker as most of the video showrooms show pornography late into the night.

Ironically, some of the patrons are children.

This is the sad reality of many video showrooms across the country.

And the Internet is also fast becoming another port for children’s exposure to pornography. With that also comes cyberbullying, where some adults send crude and obscene photos and messages to children.

Today, cyberbullying is one of the most common threats faced by children online. It can occur through the use of text messages, emails, online games, chat apps, social media and other online forums.

Child rights activist Boniface Mandele feels the situation is getting out of hand.

He calls for close monitoring of what children access on the Internet and in video showrooms.

Mandele states: “We cannot deny children access to social media and public entertainment, but there is a need to ensure that they are safe.

“Our children face a lot of violence and lately, the Internet is fast becoming one of the violent platforms of abuse of children.”

The campaigner is the executive director of Article 3, one of the organisations in the national advocacy of the protection of children online.

He urges parents and the community to vigilantly monitor what children and young adults access on the Internet.

“For instance, children should be sensitised that if they receive requests from unknown people, they need to report to parents, teachers and other adults or authorities. To achieve that, there is a need for proper training on online threats,” Mandele advocates.

On the other hand, the the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) and its partners call for urgent interventions to protect children from cybercrimes.

“The reality today is that our children and young adults are the digital generations, born and raised with access to digital information and the ability to navigate new communication technologies,” says Macra broadcasting manager Matilda Kanjeri.

She says this digital connectivity has numerous harms as “the anonymous nature of the Internet allows for misrepresentations and manipulations which put children and young adults at risk because of their easy-trusting nature”.

Among others, Macra has validated the Child Online Protection Strategy which it developed with technical assistance from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United Nations.

The strategy was developed in response to the changing communication landscape which has seen a migration of livelihood to cyberspace, making children and young adults one of the most vulnerable groups requiring deliberate measures for their online safety.

Kanjeri too says all adults, duty-bearers and stakeholders are bound by a common duty to ensure the protection of children from any form of exploitation.

“To keep our children safe online, we all have to play our part,” she says.

Why Children Are Unsafe in Cyberspace, a new report from the Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF), shows that 72 percent of children around the world have experienced at least one type of cyber threat online.

The GCF findings, developed in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, raise awareness on the critical issues that affect the protection of children in cyberspace at a time when over 90 percent of children aged eight and above, are active on the internet.

The results from the survey that targeted more than 40 000 parents and children across 24 countries in six regions overwhelmingly affirm that protection of today’s youth in cyberspace is falling short, impacting children globally and requiring urgent collective action.

Although Malawi has not had a survey on children’s cyber abuse, the risk could be high as well considering the increasing use of phones and social media outlets.

This ramps up calls for vigilance in monitoring how children use social media, including patronage to video showrooms, where they can easily be manipulated by harmful content, including pornography, violence and abusive language.