Workshop discusses child protection in online spaces

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and UNICEF Vietnam jointly held a workshop on May 24 to discuss how to protect children in the digital world.
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha speaks at the event.
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha speaks at the event.

According to MOLISA Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Ha, the Vietnamese Party and State have made great efforts to better protect children on the internet with the introduction of various legal documents, such as the Law on Children, the Law on Cybersecurity and the Law on Information Access.

The Prime Minister also approved a national action programme on child protection for the 2021-2030 period and a programme to protect and support children‘s healthy and creative interaction on the web for the 2021-2025 period.

However, as IT and internet development offers many learning and entertainment opportunities for children, they also expose them to many potential risks in the online space that could harm them in the long term.

In the first five months of 2023, the national children protection hotline received 128 calls on child protection in the online space, 30 of which were about sexual harassment against children.

The hotline also received three reports on video channels with content harmful to children.

At the workshop, representatives of relevant ministries, agencies and organisations shared information about efforts to protect children in the online space and discussed how to address the risks faced by children as well as promote healthy development opportunities for them in the digital world.

NDO