Parents and teachers should seek to prepare children for a world in which digital crimes, including sexual exploitation and violence, abound, the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation said on Friday.
The number of cases of crimes against children, such as child pornography and online bullying, is increasing, the foundation said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare registered 896 such crimes from January to June last year, the highest number for that period in the past few years for such cases, it said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Foundation chairwoman Yeh Der-lan (葉德蘭) said that UN agencies are increasingly putting their focus on the right to bodily autonomy, including online.
Foundation director Tu Ying-chiu (杜瑛秋) said that a survey conducted by the foundation showed that 60 percent of parents fear that their children could become victims of crimes involving adults deceiving them on social media, including sending them pornographic material or asking them to take pornographic photographs of themselves.
Virtually all respondents said it is important that minors know that the rights to bodily autonomy and privacy also extend to the digital realm, Tu said.
The survey showed that 87.1 percent of parents had told their children that it is not OK if anyone takes nude photographs of them, while 38.2 percent said they had begun talking to them about digital rights and bodily autonomy since they were kindergarten age, Tu said.
Thirty percent said they started using digital devices to communicate with their children before they turned six, while 11.8 percent said they used such devices as “digital pacifiers” to keep their children occupied, Tu said.
Thirty-seven percent said using digital devices had led to family relations becoming more distant, Tu said.
The top three negative effects related to digital device usage respondents worried about were effects on children’s eyesight, online addiction and exposure to sexual or violent content, Tu said, adding that the survey collected 372 valid questionnaires.
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