The government has successfully reviewed the Child Online Protection (COP) Framework into a comprehensive national policy that can create a safer and more efficient environment on the internet for children and young people in the country.
The new document is to offer administrative, regulatory, institutional and legal support to protect children when using the internet.
In line with that, it is also designing a legislative instrument (LI) to back the implementation of the child online protection-related provisions in the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038).
These are parts of measures instituted through the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) to strengthen the legal and policy regime in order to address online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The efforts, which started in 2018, have received support from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
The Director General (DG) of the CSA, Dr Albert Antwi-Boasiako, at the 2023 Africa Safer Internet Day Celebration in Accra on February 7, observed that in the course of just one generation, the internet had transformed lives.
“We now have more knowledge and facts than at any other time in human history. What is available to us as adults on the internet, whether good or bad, is also at our children’s disposal,” he said.
However, he said due to the misuse of digital tools, the lack of proper safeguards and their vulnerability, children continue to experience violence, exploitation and abuse every day from perpetrators and ruthless criminals online.
A report from UNICEF Ghana indicates that more than 13,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse were reportedly accessed or uploaded from Ghana in 2020.
Likewise, a survey conducted by the CSA in 2022 in selected senior high schools across Accra, revealed that students were active on betting and pornographic sites.
A Child Protection Officer at UNICEF, Joyce Odame, said in Ghana, UNICEF had been supporting multi-sectoral efforts to prevent and respond to all forms of abuse, violence and exploitation.
She said as long as cases of child abuse, exploitation and violence persist via the internet, UNICEF continued to fall short of its responsibilities described in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (NCPTAs), Felicity Ahafianyo, noted that the association recognised the importance that the government attached to eliminating online menace.
“We know that this task is by no means easy, but so far, the authority has lived up to expectations,” she said.
Since 2019, Ghana has observed Africa Safer Internet Day (ASID) in line with the African Union’s Cyber Security Agenda.
On the theme, “Empowering the African child on safer internet,” this year’s celebration focused on strategies to empower children in the digital environment.
SOURCE:Graphiconline
