LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)- In a bid to contain online cyber-crime against children, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), in conjunction with the International Telecommunication Union, is on the verge of developing the Child Online Protection (COP) framework.
The development comes almost a year after the two institutions harmonized the regional legal framework to locally identified existing regulations that address crimes related to children, including online harassment, and child sexual abuse images for regional harmonization.
The COP will complement the newly enacted E- Transaction Act that covers cyber security including cybercrimes.
In an interview with the Maravi Post on Monday during the first-ever COP stakeholders conference in the capital Lilongwe, Godfrey Itaye, MACRA’s General Manager, said it was important as a parent to digital children who are exposed to inappropriate internet content.
Itaye observed that children born in the current digital age, embrace internet and technology as if it is part of their DNA.
They are using internet as a platform for learning and research, chatting with friends, sharing videos and photos, playing interactive games and literally accessing the world. Internet has become an integral part of their daily lives.
The General Manager added that children expose themselves by posting personal IDs, emotions, location and images on social networking sites, hence the need to control the trend.
“All these can be taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals who target such young people. Therefore unknowingly children can become victims of kidnapping, rape, deception, drug and child trafficking by cyber-criminals.
“This is the reason we are developing the COP as a shared responsibility requiring a multi-stakeholder approach. Various issues need to be addressed under COP including policy, legislation, industry regulation, as well as how best to monitor and educate our children on online safety,” he said.
Itaye added; “I am hopeful that this forum will provide a strong collaboration between various stakeholders as well as discuss and exchange views and experiences on how best Malawi can develop and implement a COP strategy framework with guidance from the ITU experts.
In her remarks, Anne Rita Ssemboga, ITU’s African region program officer lauded Malawi for being on the forefront in addressing the concerns for COP in continent.
Ssembaga therefore urged developing nations to integrate the awareness program for children and access to new technologies or internet when developing national strategies and frameworks.
According to ITU data shows that young are at the forefront to today’s digital economy with 70 percent of the world’s young being on line.
Facebook Users Statistics for Africa by June 2017 indicate that Malawi had about 15 thousand internet users in December 2000, which has increased to over 1.5 million by June this year translating to internet growth rate of 11.6% with 720 thousand facebook users by June 2017.
In 2014, however, the National Statistic Office (NSO) and MACRA coordinated a National ICT Access and Usage survey which revealed that internet penetration in Malawi is at 17.6% and out of this, 5% belongs to users between the ages of 0-24yrs.
