Garoua: MTN Foundation launches online child protection programme.

The scheme is tagged: “Protect Child Online”, was launched during an interactive ceremony in Garoua, North Region. 

The programme had been presented to stakeholders during the first national cyber security days organised by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

Meanwhile, the unveiling of the online child protection programme in Garoua was marked an educational talk. 

Hundreds of students from schools across Garoua attended the event. Also in attendance were teachers and representatives of several public and private services.

Speaking during the ceremony, the Executive Secretary of MTN Foundation, Danielle Mbome Efoula, noted that child online protection has become topical given that almost one in three internet users worldwide is below the age of an 18.

Children she said, constitute a vulnerable group in society and are more exposed to abuses.

“As a responsible company, MTN applies a zero-tolerance policy to all forms of abuse and exploitation of these minors, and above all has a duty and an obligation to help protect them,” Mbome said, adding that: “This reporting portal is MTN's first response in this battle to protect our children”.

She went on to note that, the online child protection programme equally seeks to raise public awareness on the “risks which children can be exposed to when surfing the web, and good attitudes to adopt in the face of these risks”.

Students expressing themselves during exchange with officials 

MTN Foundation, she said, has selected around 40 students from 16 secondary and high schools to act as ambassadors for the Protect Child Online Programme.

She expressed hope that “they will help spread the message at home, in school and in their various communities, so that together we can better protect them”.

She said the programme was introduced to the portal launched by MTN Foundation in partnership with Internet Watch Foundation, IWF. She added that it is available at https://mtn.cm/foundation/protectchildonline/ and enables people living in Cameroon to report child sexual abuse. 

Mbome explained that: “In five steps, users can report cases of child abuse observed on the Internet. The web pages and other content reported are then analysed by IWF, which can help remove the content from the web, block the pages reported and even consider legal action against the alleged perpetrators of the abuse”.

The Protect Child Online programme is being rolled out in Cameroon three months after the country adopted a charter to protect children online. It is in line with government’s strategy to protect children from cybercrime.