TWO youths from the Brunei Council on Social Welfare (MKM) recently participated in the Asean regional children’s consultation on online child protection, held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Azhmir Morente bin Merusin and Khairunnisa Amalin binti Bolhassan represented Brunei Darussalam, alongside 20 youths from the Asean region. They were accompanied by an adult mentor, Siti Mariana binti Haji Makhbar, the MKM Assistant Secretary 3.
A regional discussion was held to address the issue of child protection as a main priority, through the Asean Senior Officials Meeting on Social Welfare and Development (SOMSWD). The youths held a separate consultation meeting, where they discussed integrated national responses for the ending of online child sexual exploitation and abuse in Asean member states.
Their recommendations were presented to 100 adult participants comprising government officials from the Asean region, United Nations agencies, info-communication technology (ICT) sector companies, representatives of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and the Asean Commission on the Promotion and the Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), foreign law representatives, Asean organisations and sectoral bodies, and the Asean Secretariat. The young delegates also met Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee, the Deputy Secretary-General of Asean for Socio-Cultural Community.
They engaged with Wivina Belmonte, the Deputy Regional Director of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) East Asia, who encouraged them to continue with their advocacy in providing continuous feedback regarding online child protection to the authorities and policymakers in their communities.
Azhmir said part of their recommendations included an appeal to regional governments to create and enforce law and policies on child online protection, in addition to providing budgets for the protection of children online.
He added that they also proposed for private companies to start corporate responsibility programmes to promote online child protection, while supporting local non-government organisations (NGOs) and members of civil society to run these programmes.
Meanwhile, Khairunnisa said she believed in the efficacy of raising awareness through school campaigns, as well as conducting studies on how the Internet affects children.
The event was organised by the Child Rights Coalition (CRC) Asia, with the support of UNICEF East Asia Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO), Plan International and Asean.
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