By BRIAN HATYOKA –
COMBATING child pornography at home and abroad is a daunting task that requires harmonisation of laws, Zambia Police gender office deputy national coordinator Doreen Mazuba-Malambo has said.
Ms Malambo said harmonisation of laws was essential to effectively address the growing international phenomenon of child pornography.
She said countries would be able to secure a safer future for children only by combining their efforts against child pornography.
Ms Malambo said this yesterday in her presentation to delegates at the Child Online Protection (COP) seminar, which is organised by Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority, at Zambezi Sun Hotel in Livingstone.
The International Telecommunications Union established the COP in 2008 to promote the online protection of children worldwide by providing guidance on safe online behaviour in conjunction with United Nation agencies and partners.
“We call upon all partners to collaborate with the Zambia Police Service for effectiveness and efficiency in COP,” Ms Malambo said.
She said weak legislation on online child pornography, especially Article 177 A (1) (2) (3) of Zambia’s penal code, was one of the challenges the country faced in controlling child exploitation.
Other challenges include inadequate funding allocated to organisations mandated to curb the scourge, as well as limited knowledge on filters or restrictions which could prevent information offending children from being accessed through the internet.
Ms Malambo also cited inadequate public sensitisation and training among service providers and law enforcement agencies as the other challenges.
Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education senior systems analyst John Ngozi said a number of teachers had been trained to safeguard pupils against cyber crimes.
In his presentation on cyber crime in schools, Mr Ngozi said there was need to limit internet sites being accessed by pupils as some sites were harmful to learners.
He also agreed that internet offered a broad spectrum of opportunities for pupils in terms of education and learning.
“Our pupils have grown in the internet age and they are keen and curiosity users, but also our pupils can become victims or corrupted by online facilities,” he said.