(Office of First Lady Reports) Nigeria’s First Lady, who is champion of the Global Child Online Protection initiative, Patience Jonathan has called for greater global efforts towards protecting children and young people working online.
The First Lady made this appeal in pursuant of the 2014 Safer Internet Day (SID) scheduled for celebration worldwide on Tuesday, February 11, 2014. She also charged stakeholders to take practical steps towards promoting international and national policies, programmes and educational initiatives on improved child online safety.
In her call for action, the Global Champion urged the International Telecommunications Union, (ITU) member-states and sectoral members to continually build capacities as well as develop programs and curricula to provide for safe and responsible use of ICT facilities. She further stressed on the importance of ITU member-states’ sharing of experiences and contributions of expertise and resources towards developing the practical tools which will help to minimise online risks to children.
While advocating for the same rights to freedom of speech, association and privacy which obtains in the traditional media to be extended to the online medium, the First Lady called for the establishment of policies and appropriate frameworks to protect the use of private data and intellectual property online.
The First Lady also recalled that renewed attention was offered to the protection of children in cyber space in May 2013 when she was made the Global Child Online Protection Champion by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) as a passionate advocate on women and children’s rights.
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