An increased parental surveillance and parental control of the online activities of children can sometimes backfire, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) official.
In an exclusive interview with the Observer in the backdrop of ‘What works to prevent online violence against children?’ online discussion, Sabine Rakotomalala, Technical Officer, Violence Prevention Unit, Department for the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) at the WHO, said that such increased restrictions and constant, excessive monitoring by parents can dissuade children from sharing their experience from their time spent online.
“Parents can be influential by helping their children acquire skills to stay safe online. But the inclination to impose restrictions and increase parental surveillance can sometimes backfire and lead to children being unwilling to share activities with parents and seek their help when needed,” she said, adding that “One of the skills parents can most help children with is helping them to differentiate relationships that are healthy and mutually rewarding and those that are problematic, unequal and exploitative.”
Although it is said that online violence against children has shot up manifold during the pandemic despite repeated warnings, she said the evidence is not yet clear about the relationship between the pandemic and children’s violence exposure because of the lag in data collection, so terms like “shot up” may be unnecessarily alarmist.
The Sultanate of Oman ensures that all possible measures are taken to protect child rights online and no perpetrators on child abuse will be spared as the country considers any form of abuse against children, be it mental or physical, is a grave concern.
According to Child Protection Act, a child is entitled to various rights including, but not limited to education, health, civic, economic, social, cultural and opinion rights and Oman observes zero tolerance against child abuse. It ensures the protection of children and their well being is guaranteed with the support of the parents and other relatives.
“If children are spending more time online, then more of everything positive and negative might be expected to happen there, so an important caveat is, if some forms of violence have gone up, is it proportional or disproportional to the increased engagement time.”
In order to keep all children safe from online threats, WHO will continue to advocate for life skills interventions, delivered by parents, in community settings or in schools. The main life skills include assertiveness, resistance to peer pressure, conflict resolution, problem‑solving and empathy.
“We at WHO will continue to work with UNESCO and the Ministry of Education to scale up school-based violence prevention programmes. In addition, WHO will continue to advocate, within Ministries of Health, for health staff based within the school settings to keep their children safe from any harm from online interactions,” she said.
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