The Executive Director of Child Online Africa, an organisation working to ensure that young people in Ghana are able to use technology and the internet safely and responsibly, Awo Aidam Amenyah has said child-focused organisations will soon begin a class action against institutions which do not work to protect the rights of children in Ghana and Africa.

Online safety for children translates into the capacity of the child to use social media services and electronic services in a safe and protection-guaranteed manner from image-based abused contents.

Mrs Amenyah was speaking at a day’s training programme for journalists on online safety for vulnerable groups held in Accra on Wednesday, 21 August 2019 organised by Child Online Africa and AF Academy.

Child Online and AF Academy believe protection online for vulnerable groups like children, is critical in an era where digitalisation has become a powerful aspect of human activities globally.

The training, which was attended by some selected journalists, was geared toward equipping the participants with up-to-date advocacy skills for vulnerable people online, enlightening journalists on the rights of the child online and to highlight the need for child protection online.

Topics discussed include ‘Rights of the child online, vulnerabilities of children online, online safety and responsible media advertising and journalists’ role in public policy.’

Speaking at the training session, Mrs Amenyah said child protection services in the country do not seem to be working and do not help the cause of those promoting rights pertaining to children, hence child-focused organisations will soon file a class action suit against such institutions in Ghana and beyond.

“A time will come when we (child-focused organisations) will start a class action against you (Child protection service institutions) because it is becoming too much. The helpline at DOVVSU doesn’t work.

“Child Protection Services in Ghana do not seem to work and it doesn’t help; the system must work.”

Mrs Amenyah also reminded the media of their moral responsibility as far as protecting children online is concerned and urged the media to integrate online safety in their social media strategy and work with other partners to guarantee the safety of children and young people.

The Executive Director recently trekked Mountain Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in order to promote the safety of the child online.

Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM