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Govt. mulls better online protection for children
…launches countrywide public consultation
(Kaieteur News) – The government has launched a national consultation to develop a framework to address the harmful impact of social media usage on children.
The first session was spearheaded by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance on Tuesday at the World Trade Centre in Kingston, Georgetown.
Minister Teixeira was joined by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall S.C; Minister of Education, Sonia Parag; Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr.Vindhya Persaud; Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Sarah Browne-Shadeek; Minister of Home Affairs, Oneidge Walrond; Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning, Keoma Griffith; Minister of Youth Culture and Sport Charles Ramson and Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister with Responsibility for Public Affairs Kwame McCoy.
A section of the stakeholders at the first consultative session to address the harmful impact of social media addiction on children was held on Tuesday at the World Trade Centre in Kingston, Georgetown.
The consultation is the brainchild of President Irfaan Ali.
Minister Teixeira explained that the government is looking to draft legislation to add an extra layer of protection for underage online users.
She explained that the government is looking at Australia’s under-16 social media restrictions, the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act, and the age-based restrictions introduced in France, Norway and Denmark as model examples for social media and online safeguards.
“We will look at what Brazil is doing, what the United Kingdom is doing, what Canada’s doing, what Pakistan is doing,” she said, referring to their legislative architecture. “We will look at everybody and see how they find their answers to their realities.”
Minister Teixeira also proposed the creation of a dedicated Child Online Protection Authority to handle monitoring, compliance oversight and international cooperation.
“We will ask you, the stakeholders, to go back to your organisations, discuss these issues, and we will meet back in [three] weeks to hear now what you are proposing, what you agree to, what you don’t agree to, what you think can work in Guyana, and what you think can’t work in Guyana,” Minister Teixeira said.
The event saw participation from some 95 representatives from various organisations, including religious bodies, educators, trade unions, youths, and non-profit organizations. Among the topics discussed during the consultation include mental health concerns, the impact on children’s cognitive development, impaired interpersonal skills, cyberbullying and harassment, online exploitation, exposure to harmful content and the addictive features of the platform itself. Many attendees called for parental empowerment through national awareness campaigns and family online safety resources.
In his remarks, Nandlall explained that the objective is to ensure the safety of Guyana’s children through proper cybercrime safety channels.
“We are working on model legislation and we are looking at the models in places like Europe and Australia. We are examining them to know which one is most suited for Guyana. We are not going to reinvent the wheel; we will borrow from those models and examine our society to craft one that is best suited for us,” the attorney general said.
He noted that Tuesday’s session was the first of many to come.
“We are going to engage in a wide-reaching consultative measure and we want engagement of every possible stakeholder and we will come to your community to consult in the coming months,” he said while making it clear that the government has no ulterior motive with the new law.
“This is not an attempt to sensor or to interfere with anyone’s freedom of expression this is simply for the protection of our children,” he assured.
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