Educate parents, children on cyber abuse — report
By Mwangi Mumero, December 8, 2022
Children and parents should be educated on ways of identifying forms of online abuse to keep children safe.
Cyber bullying, sexual image abuse and harassment, cyberstalking, identify theft targeting are on the increase especially in children and young adults, and there is need to keep children safe online, a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), now says.
A study conducted by researchers from Moi University and Technical University of Kenya reveal that one in five women in Kenya have experienced cyberbullying on social media sites.
This is in form of unwanted trolls and sexual harassment with men being the main perpetrators.
The WHO report ‘What works to precent online violence against children’ presents ways to address the growing concern on child safety online.
With schools in Kenya closed for the holidays, more children have access to the internet especially in towns. This exposes them to all forms of online abuse.
“Our children spend more and more time online. As such it is our duty to make the online environment safe,” notes Etienne Krug, director of the WHO department of Social Determinants of Health.
Action by stakeholders
According to Krug, the new document provides for the first time a clear direction for action by governments, donors and other development partners, showing that we must address online and offline violence together if we are to be effective.
The report recommends implementing school-based educational programmes that have multiple sessions, promote interaction among youth and engage parents.
It also underscores the importance of training youth in specific life skills such as assertiveness, empathy, problem-solving, emotion management and help seeking, among others.
Educational programmes are more successful when they use multiple and varied delivery formats such as videos, games, posters, infographics and guided discussions, it adds.
The report notes that there is need for more violence prevention programmes that integrate content about online dangers with offline violence prevention, given the overlap of these problems and the common approaches to prevention;
Children should also be made aware that acquaintances and peer perpetrators are responsible for the majority of online abuse with online strangers being of lesser concern. Children also need to give more attention to healthy relationship skills, since romance and intimacy-seeking are major sources of vulnerability to online violence.
Internet access offers many possibilities for children and young people, including fostering learning, developing personal and professional skills, expressing creativity and participating in society.
Governments need to find the right balance between fostering opportunities for young people through the digital environment and protecting them from harm.