The GSMA and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) organized during April online seminars on Child and Adolescent Online protection in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador to promote and support children’s rights on the Internet. Workshops were held with international experts, national government authorities, and representatives of civil society and executives of the mobile ecosystem. Among the topics discussed were the fight against child sexual abuse material online, the role of legislation and law enforcement and the mobile industry initiatives to protect children.
This seminars series in Latin America, which started in October 2014 with events in Paraguay and Colombia, are held in the framework of the alliance between the GSMA and UNICEF in Latin America. Together, they promote the new Guidelines for Industry on Child Online Protection in the regional mobile industry. GSMA Latin America works closely with UNICEF to establish the ways in which mobile operators can promote children’s rights and responsible digital citizenship.
The seminars on online child protection in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador counted on the presence of national UNICEF representatives and Mauro Accurso, Communications and Sustainability Manager at GSMA Latin America, Katia Dantas, Policy Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children’s (ICMEC) and Amy Crocker, Hotline Development Coordinator at INHOPE Foundation.
Peru: “United for a protected childhood in ICTs: Fighting Online Child Sexual Abuse”
Organized by ICMEC, INHOPE, Google, GSMA and Telefonica, the seminar “United for a protected childhood in ICTs” was held in Lima on April 13 and featured remarkable presentations by the Department of Children and Adolescents, Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP), the Peruvian National Police, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Google, Microsoft and the Peruvian Internet Police’s Investigations Unit of Hi-Tech Crime (DIVINTAD).
Juan Díaz Dios, Congressman of the Republic of Peru, spoke about the law on safe and responsible use of ICTs.
Bolivia: “Seminar on Child and Adolescent Online protection”
Developed by GSMA Latin America and UNICEF with the support of Tigo Bolivia, the “Seminar on Child and Adolescent Online protection” was held on April 20 and 21 in La Paz, Bolivia.
The event was inaugurated/opened by Nadia Eid Melgar, Social Responsibility and Institutional Communication Manager at TIGO, Chavo Salvatierra, Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Bolivia, Marco Luigi Corsi, UNICEF’s representative in Bolivia, Felipe Guzmán, Executive Director of the Telecommunications Regulation Authority (ATT) and Dr. Fabiola Tito from the Victim and Witness Care Unit, Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
Representatives of the public sector also joined this day of discussion/debate day. Among them were officials of the Deputy Minister of Telecommunications, the Victim and Witness Care Unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Deputy Minister of Public Safety.
Ecuador: “Meeting on Child Online Protection”
Organised by the GSMA in partnership with Telefonica and UNICEF, the “Meeting on Child Online Protection” was held at the United Nations headquarters in Quito on April 23 Grant Leaty, UNICEF Representative in Ecuador, and Stefan Stefansson, Regional Chief of Partnerships at UNICEF LAC – Latin America and Caribbean, inaugurated the event.
Among the outstanding performances were those of Johanna Suárez, Analyst at the Industry and Services for the Information Society Development Department of Ecuador’s Ministry of Communications and Information Society (MINTEL) and José María Gómez de la Torre, National Director of Special Telecommunications Research for the Agency for Regulation and Control of Telecommunications (ARCOTEL).
After the presentations, the seminar featured an open debate panel among representatives of mobile operators in Ecuador, Yiria Jaramillo, National Head of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Telefonica Movistar, Reinaldo Torres, Organizational Development Country Manager of the National Telecommunications Corporation (CNT), and Maria de Lourdes Oliva, Head of Public Relations and Corporate at Claro. Mobile operators’ executives introduced their initiatives to promote a responsible use of the Internet and also voiced their company’s self-regulatory models and best practices. In addition, the three main operators committed to establish agreements and alliances to ensure the protection and assurance of child and adolescent online rights in Ecuador.
The meeting also counted on the presence of representatives of the Agency for Regulation and Control of Telecommunications; Association of Telecommunications Companies; Cyber Crime Department of the National Police; National Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation; National Secretary of Planning and Development; ActionAid; ChildFund; Children International Quito; Intervida; Kindernothilfe; Plan International; Our Youth Foundation; Prosecutors’ School; the Latin American Institute of Social Research; the National Police Department for Children and Adolescents and The Association of Internet users.
As a result of the meeting, an agenda to monitor and implement all the discussed agreements and commitments were suggested by the participants and it will soon be described in detail in a roundtable.