Commissioner of Youth Affairs Maria Buncamper-Molanus, says she supports the initiative taken by the United Nations telecom agency, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the European Commission to protect children, among the most active and most vulnerable users of the Internet from online dangers, including cyber-bullying and paedophilia.
According to recent surveys, over 60 per cent of children and teenagers talk in chat rooms on a daily basis. Three in four children online are willing to share personal information about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. One in five children will be targeted by a predator or paedophile each year.
"We must ensure that everyone is aware of the dangers for young people online which also include cyber-bullying. At the same time we must promote efforts that are being made around the world to limit these dangers.
"The internet has become a place for social networking. Many websites have been developed for social networking such as Hi5, Facebook and MySpace. Parents need to question their kids about the use of the internet and monitor as well what they are doing.
"I would encourage parents to purchase child online protection programmes in order to ensure a safe and secure online experience for our youth," Commissioner of Youth Affairs Maria Buncamper-Molanus told the Government Information Service (GIS).