Minister of Social Development and Family H E Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad (fourth left), President of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and Chairperson of Qatar National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) H E Maryam bint Abdullah Al Attiyah (fourth right) with other officials during the forum yesterday. Pic by Rajan Vadakkemuriyil / The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) is working to implement initiatives and projects targeting children, teachers and families for creating awareness and providing guidance content for preventing digital risks.
“Among these initiatives are the Cyber Security Educational Curricula and Cyber Echo projects, which targeted more than 140,000 students in 200 schools of different age groups to further enhance digital literacy for students through field visits,” said President of National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) Abdulrahman bin Ali Al Fahid Al Malki.
He was speaking at the 3rd National Forum for Human Rights in Lusail yesterday. The two-day forum is being organised by National Human Rights Committee (NHRC).
Al Malki said that NCSA pays great attention to addressing the threats facing children in the digital world.
He said that the agency strives to protect them from these threats by enforcing laws and legislation such as the Personal Data Privacy Protection Law, which classifies children’s data as data of a private nature that cannot be processed or collected without obtaining approval from the competent authority represented by the National Office for the Protection of Personal Data Privacy.
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi said that challenges require taking serious and effective steps to ensure the protection and care of children’s rights.
He said that education and guidance are two essential pillars for enabling children to use technology safely and consciously, and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s strategy 2024-2030 has given great importance to this.
Assistant Undersecretary for Digital Industry Affairs at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Reem Mohammed Al Mansouri said that the Ministry is working to develop programmes, policies and guidelines that contribute to developing a safe digital environment for children.
She said that the Ministry launched the “Safe Space” platform in 2010, with the aim of raising community awareness of the use of emerging technologies, social media platforms and electronic games.
Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict H E Virginia Gamba said that on a national level, Qatar has demonstrated a strong commitment to children’s rights through its Qatar National Vision 2030.
She said that its vision aims to create a secure environment, provide quality education and deliver essential services for children, including efforts to promote digital rights.
“The theme of this forum is both timely and essential. We have a dual responsibility to protect children from digital dangers, while empowering them to navigate and benefit from this space,” said Gamba.
Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICIF), Head of Programs, Partnerships and Operations in Qatar H E Anthony MacDonald said: “Digital technology has dramatically changed the child protection landscape. There are new ways to perpetrate violence, for example, live streaming abuse, online abuse, image based abuse.”
He said that this will require collaboration with government, private sector civil society to create, a comprehensive legal framework that protects children’s rights online and secondly to promote digital literacy and empowerment, empowering children and their caregivers, parents and family.
