Honourable Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities, Ms Lulu Xingwana
Acting Chief Operating Officer of the Film and Publication Board
Government and Film and Publication officials
Members of society
Representatives of business.
Good morning.
I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for your presence at this gathering and for supporting and partnering with us on this Inaugural Dialogue on Child Online Protection would their presence.
Today is clear demonstration that your government cares about your wellbeing and that of the vulnerable members of our society. Looking around this room you can’t help but notice that colleagues from different government departments and entities are working side by side to ensure that we have this necessary public awareness conversation about the dangers posed by the ubiquitous internet.
You can all see what we mean when we talk about an integrated approach to service delivery. Indeed, working together we can do more to connect people to the internet and protect them.
It shouldn’t surprise anybody that we are having this dialogue because those who are familiar with the ANC that is leading the government would know that this glorious movement has always championed the rights of the underdog in our still unequal society.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are having a very important conversation in this dialogue because most South Africans are increasingly living a portion of their lives online. The majority of these South Africans are young and need our care and protection.
I would also like to acknowledge the work done by Google South Africa on promoting the Online Child Safety through the campaign launched in June 2012.
We must remember that we are having this dialogue during 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. On Saturday we were observing the World Aids Day.
The 16 Days campaign and the Aids are two burdens that weight heavier on women, in addition to the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
It is deplorable that this week we heard in the news about a teacher in Soweto who allegedly showed pupils a pornographic video and proceeded to sexually assault them.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident because this year were have read about many more cases of adults disgustingly taking advantage of kids, instead of protecting them.
These stories were punctuated by accounts of gruesome attacks and rapes of the elderly. Our society doesn’t have a place for savages who prey on our youth, who are our future, and the elderly.
Ladies and gentlemen,
A portion of this violence takes place online and is either not reported or not detected. Those who are mostly affected are the young. We must be vigilant and diligently protect their innocence. We must find a balance between empowering and protecting children online.
As part of the Department’s consultation processes with stakeholders towards the development of a Children and ICT Strategy it has been found that there is no coherent strategy towards achieving children’s empowerment and protection in the ICT sector. The key focus of the department is hence to promote and raise awareness on the concept of child online protection.
One of the key partners in the effort to protecting children online has been the Film and Publications Board (FPB). They are the custodians of the Film and Publications Act that governs the classification of films and publications to prevent children from being exposed to harmful content on television or the internet. It is therefore for that common interests that we have entered into a partnership with the FPB on the development of a coherent action plan on child online protection and this dialogue is the first in a range of joint initiatives to be undertaken by the DoC and the FPB to promote awareness on the Child Online Protection.
Another key partner has been the Department of Social Development as they are the custodians of the Children’s Act that governs all the rights of children and the responsibilities of government departments towards children. In this regard the department’s support has been towards the development of Guidelines on Child Online Protection that can be included in the National Guidelines developed by the DSD on combating the exploitation, neglect and abuse of children.
The Department’s view is that because this concept of Child Online Protection is not clearly understood by children, parents, educators and the general role players in the ICT sector, we as the Department need to lead in the discussions, programs, initiatives and strategies on Child Online Protection. In this regard we have recently adopted the Cyber Security Policy Framework that sets out the processes towards how the country should respond to protecting its citizens, business and government in cyber space. There is a specific focus on Child Online Protection in the Cyber Security Policy Framework.
The presence of the boys and girls here today is indicative of the department’s commitment to hearing their voices in the process of developing the action plan on Child Online Protection.
When we leave here, we must have started a dialogue to devise strategies that will ensure that children are aware of the dangers of participating online primarily when they are switching on the phone, computer, television, MP3 player and any other technological tool that gives you access to content. We also come with an action plan to empower children, parents and all role players in the area of Child Online Protection to combat the abuse of children online.
The Department of Communications has been supporting the Child Protection Week campaign as part of its work on Children and ICTs for the past five years and in support of the week the department has embarked on a national campaign to raise awareness on Child Online Protection. The department is committed to the protection of children and we value the role parents and teachers can play in regard to combating child online exploitation.
Some of these guidelines for protecting children include simple things like;
•Children agreeing to allow their parents to monitor the activity on your mobile phones depending on the age of the child,
•That the family computer be in a central place in the house as appose to children having a computer in their rooms again depending on the age of the children,
•Discussing some of the important issues regarding internet safety in cyber labs,
•Setting up training for parents and teachers to catch up on “new technology” so bridge the gap between children and parents where these matters are concerned
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are responsible for the safety of our children’s safety as they expand their horizons on the internet. We can’t allow rogue elements to rob our society of a chance to use technology to advance.
Let us remain vigilant. Let us keep ourselves up-to-date with the latest developments in online security that can help us protect our future.
Thank you.
