In February, over 200 delegates from 10 Governments, private sector, NGOs, academia and UN agencies, representing social welfare, justice, education, telecommunications, tech, social media and finance sectors, as well as the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence Against Children, Dr Najat Maalla M’jid, came together in Bangkok (and online) for the first ASEAN Regional Conference on Child Online Protection. The Conference aimed to find solutions and identify key actions to ensure that no child has to suffer online exploitation and abuse. The conference was also the first step for the development of a regional plan of action for the Declaration on the Protection of Children from all forms of Online Exploitation and Abuse in ASEAN adopted last November by the Heads of State. A key message of conference was that no organization, no agency, no Ministry and no country can effectively prevent and respond to child online abuse alone. Collaboration is key! The conference was co-organized by ASEAN, the Government of Thailand, and the Government of the Philippines, with the support of UNICEF, UNODC and ITU.
Download: Report on the ASEAN Regional Conference on Child Online Protection
The discussions and recommendations that we had during the conference are even more timely considering that the last few months have pushed more, and even younger, children online and for longer periods. While this has provided a valuable opportunity for many children to continue learning and to connect and play with friends during containment measures, it has also increased risks of abuse, exploitation, harmful content and cyberbullying. We are taking the opportunity to share a few global documents that you might find useful on COVID-19 and Child Online Protection: COVID-19 and its implications for protecting children online and Impact of COVID-19 on Online Child Sexual Exploitation. We hope to have an opportunity to hear about the work you have been doing to prevent and respond to these increased risks.
