New report on online child safety in the Pacific Islands

Plan International Australia in partnership with ChildFund Australia and the Young and Resilient Research Centre at the Western Sydney University have released the Online Safety in the Pacific report that is based on research conducted in Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands to understand the challenges and opportunities digital technologies present to children.

Though access remains a challenge for children, the report observes that this limited access to technology has impeded children from developing the skills to protect themselves online and neither are their parents or caregivers equipped to support the children.

To address the issue of protecting children online and ensuring they benefit from the use of technologies, the report suggests recommendations under three pillars;  protection, provision, and participation. These include suggestions:strengthening existing policies related to protecting children online; developing classification of age appropriate content online; allocating a budget to build capacity among teachers; encouraging the industry to adopt a safety by design approach; ensuring quality programmes and services by adhering to the principles of the Convention on the rights of the child;  and implement a community approach to protect children online.