An overview of the conference. — VNS Photo Thu Trang

The strong development of internet and smart devices has opened many opportunities for children to learn and explore the world as they can easily search and access a lot of useful information, however, they also face the risk of accessing harmful information online.

Experts agreed on this assessment in a conference held on Thursday in Hà Nội, which was co-organised by the Việt Nam Cyber Safety for Children Club (VCSC), Việt Nam Information Security Association (VNISA) and Việt Nam Cyber Security Emergency Response Centre.

Speaking at the conference, Đặng Vũ Sơn, deputy chairman of the VNISA, said that in recent years, information technology and telecommunications growth had impacted every field and everyone’s life, including children.

Việt Nam has paid attention and has strong policies to protect children from increasing risks in cyberspace, including Prime Ministerial Decision 830/TTg-CP on the programme “Protect and support children to interact healthily and creatively in the online environment in the period 2021-25".

In order for the State's guidelines and policies to be widely implemented, joint efforts were needed from all agencies, organisations, businesses and the community, Sơn said.

“We are pleased to work together to protect children and help them become safe, creative and happy digital citizens,” he said.

Ngô Tuấn Anh, Chairman of the VCSC, said that preventing harmful information and fraud against children in the online environment had been one of the key contents of the club since its establishment.

The club targets to connect and work with other organisations to build a safe cyberspace for all Vietnamese children.

In the coming time, the club will set up a child protection data system, and a basic standard for child protection products.

“We will offer education to raise community awareness in preventing harmful and fraudulent information, supporting children to interact healthily and creatively in the cyber environment,” he said.

Up to 76 per cent of children tend to find and accept new friends on social networks, according to a report by Childfund Việt Nam.

Besides, the Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population said that nearly 36.5 per cent of children have experienced information and images related to violence on the internet.

More than 13 per cent of them are exposed to sexual material online.

Malicious and fraudulent information becomes a hidden risk and hard-to-identify traps are always lurking for children, while most of them do not have the skills to protect themselves in cyberspace.

This poses many challenges for families, schools and State management agencies to protect the children in the online environment. — VNS