The government has observed that increased access to the internet is one of the contributing factors to child sexual abuse and exploitation.
According to the Ministry of Community Development, this trend has been noted both locally and across the SADC region, describing it as a serious violation of children’s rights.
Speaking at the Regional Validation Workshop on a policy influencing strategy aimed at preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation, Ministry of Community Development GBV Officer Kelvin Micheelo revealed that approximately 175,000 children go online for the first time each day in the SADC region, significantly increasing their exposure to online predators and harmful content.
He has emphasized the urgent need to strengthen both national and regional laws and policies to better protect children from such vices.
And, REPSSI Regional Head of Programmes Kelvin Ngoma has since called on governments to develop and implement policies that strongly safeguard children’s rights.
Meanwhile, Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI) Country Director Miriam Mwinga cited poverty and technology as key drivers behind the growing problem. She explained that increased access to explicit online content ,especially among unsupervised children has made them more vulnerable to exploitation.
By Darius Choonya
