Parents asked to monitor children’s online activities

Child rights activists have asked parents to closely monitor what kind of online content children are consuming to protect them from sexual exploitation.
According to the activists, online exploitation of children is on the rise.
The activists made the call during an engagement meeting of civil society organisations dealing with child rights in Kampala last Friday.

 “Our parenting in the country has gone to the dogs. Parents have handed over the responsibility of parenting to teachers and house helps or care institutions. Be there for your children, instil discipline into them, protect them against online sexual violence. We believe the safe place for a child is home,” Mr Damon Wamara, the executive director of Uganda Child Rights NGO Network (UCRNN), said.

He added: “Online engagements using a computer, a tab, or a phone which is not monitored or controlled may expose children to online sexual exploitation. This can be through online pornography or online grooming into queer manners. 

Technological advancement has also exposed children to harm.” 
Mr Wamara called for better reporting of cases of violence against children.
“We want to see that there is more commitment from the government in allocating resources towards fighting and ending violence against children, we want to see an increased number of prosecution of perpetrators of violence,” he said.
 
He added: “We have received reports teachers and head teachers bit children some to the point of death, and sexual violence is on the rise. We want to see these people brought to book for children to receive justice.”
Mr Timothy Opobo, a board member of UCRNN, said the government should commit to increasing budgetary allocation towards child protection, abolition of corporal punishment in all settings, and online sexual exploitation of children.

“As civil society actors, we are concerned by the alarming statistics of violence against children. We continue to see that millions of children in our country continue to face physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Our government should commit to increasing its budgetary allocation towards structures that are mandated to protect children,” Mr Opobo said.
He added: “Structures, like the Child and Family Protection Unit at Police, Probation, and Socio-welfare office are underfinanced and understaffed. They are not in a position to play their role of protecting children and providing justice to children.”  

Mr Opobo, who doubles as the Executive Director of Afri-Child Centre, said although the budget for child protection had been increased from 0.01 percent to 0.02 percent of the national budget, it is still too little.
He said currently, between 12,000 and 14,000 children are abused sexually every year, adding that between 7,000 and 120,000 children are trafficked annually.

Issue
According to a study by End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) International, INTERPOL, and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) Office of Research, 12 percent of Ugandan girls between 12 and 17 years were asked to share a photo or video of their private parts.

The study also found that offenders of online child sexual abuse and exploitation are people the children already know. The most used platforms are WhatsApp, Facebook and Facebook Messenger. 
The study was funded by the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children.