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联合国儿童基金会《儿童上网安全》 现今网络世界对全球儿童带来的危与机

2011-12-13

13-12-11_child_safety_online_cover

佛罗伦斯/日内瓦/香港,2011年12月13日——联合国儿童基金会(UNICEF)旗下的英诺森提研究中心发表新一份研究报告,内容指互联网为教育和资讯的流通开拓了前所未有的机遇,但同时亦对全球儿童构成了更大的潜在危机。

该份名为《儿童上网安全:全球挑战与策略》(Child Safety online: Global challenges and strategies)的报告为大众更深入地分析了青少年及儿童在网络世界可能会面临的风险,並提出了保护儿童网络安全的纲要,以避免儿童遭受网上恶意图片的伤害、堕入网上色情陷阱和陷入网上欺凌3大网上威胁。
 
「互联网发展一日千里,虽然未有直接构成儿童性侵犯和剥削等罪行,但儿童在互联网所能遇到的潜在危机却不断扩大。」UNICEF研究办公室主任戈登.亚歷山(Gordon Alexander)先生表示:「我们必需正视这个网络危机,在尊重儿童有权利去探索新事物、发掘科技无尽可能的同时,我们亦要尽一切可能采取适当的措施保护他们。」
 
《儿童上网安全:全球挑战与策略》报告阐述了互联网对教育、社交及娱乐方面贡献良多,並强调儿童在互联网获取益处的权利必须得到保障。是次研究由本会与英国侵犯儿童与在綫防护中心(Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre)联手进行,报告指出保护儿童网络安全的工作共分4大范畴,包括:提高儿童自我保护能力、加强执法惩治网上不法分子、减少儿童接触不良资讯,和协助网络受害者解决困忧。
On 5 July, J8 youth delegates review their work on a laptop computer, at the Citizens' Cultural Centre in the city of Chitose on Hokkaido Island. They are: (left-right) Antoine Marie Oliver Bertrand-Hardy of France, Miho Kikuchi of Japan, Alexander Mario Wegner of Germany, Sergey Kononenko of the Russian Federation, Rose Elizabeth Stuart of the United Kingdom, Marco Zabai of Italy, and Nondumiso Thandeka Nkosi of South Africa. From 2 to 9 July 2008 in Japan, 39 young people from around the world gathered in the city of Chitose on Hokkaido Island for the Junior 8 (J8) Summit, hosted by the Government of Japan and UNICEF. The meeting parallels the annual summit of Heads of State/Government from Group of 8 (G8) countries, also hosted on Hokkaido Island this year. G8 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The J8 Summit provides a platform for young people to discuss global issues, advocate for solutions and actions from world leaders and foster a global youth movement around international issues. Participants, aged 13 to 17, are from all of the G8 countries. Young people from seven developing countries, Barbados, Côte dIvoire, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal and South Africa, also participated. The meeting focused on three principal G8 topics: climate change and global warming; poverty and development; and global health, particularly child survival and infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. On 7 July, J8 delegates, selected by their peers, presented their recommendations to G8 leaders at their meeting venue in the nearby town of Toyako. The recommendations asked that world leaders listen to young people and outlined specific proposals to reduce global warming (including the creation of Green Indexes to evaluate the climate-impact of products produced globally); reduce global poverty (including by supporting child rights and conflict resolution); and increase positive health initiatives worldwide (including education on disease prevention and G8 matching funds for developing country health sectors).
儿童比家长和教师更熟悉网络世界,加上他们比一般成年人更了解自己切身面对的风险,故此加强儿童自我保护能力是提升网络安全的第一道防綫,亦是解除网上威胁的核心。

事实上,许多儿童都懂得如何为个人电脑装设防火墙,封锁恶意网站。而成年人一般不及儿童追赶科技进展的步伐快,加上他们或可能限制儿童的网上自由,所以儿童每当在网络世界遇到任何疑难,他们往往会第一时间寻求协助的对象,是自己的朋友,而不是成年人。

相对个人电脑,儿童使用手提电话上网的情况就更为普及。加上科技不断进步,例如宽频上网速度愈来愈快、视像镜头价格愈益便宜等,均为网上不法分子大开方便之门,进一步沖击儿童的网上的安全问题。

报告亦指出,有效的全球性立法和执法对保护儿童十分网上安全重要。但很多国家,在推行相关法例的进展非常缓慢。即使已制定了有关法例,但却缺乏协调工作,尤其在「儿童」和色情物品的定义上,各地始终未有划一标准。就研究检视的196个国家中,只有45个国家有足够法律,打击发放恶意侵害儿童图片的罪行。虽然,互联网跨越国界的运作模式,令执法存在一定困难,但各国亦应加强执法力度,共同将不法分子绳之于法。

Childs View A man teaches computer skills to a girl at the Al Qattan Centre for the Child in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip. The photograph was taken by Hedab Abu-Rass, 18, one of 19 participants in a UNICEF-organized child photography workshop. In August 2009 in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), UNICEF held photography workshops for children in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The workshops overarching theme was child rights, part of global tributes to the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November of this year. In the Gaza Strip, the workshop was held in Gaza City with 19 young people, aged 12-19, at the Al Qattan Centre for the Child, a local UNICEF-assisted cultural and educational NGO. Guided by UNICEF photographer Giacomo Pirozzi, participants selected their own topics to photograph, including: examples of the local culture and industry; health and leisure activities; activities at the Al Qattan Centre; and the continuing impact of the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli military incursion into Gaza. The conflict killed 1,300 Gazans, including 350 children, and destroyed much of the infrastructure. Rebuilding has been severely constrained by an economic embargo, in effect since 2007, that blocks critical materials from entering the Strip and has left 80 per cent of its refugees dependent on food assistance from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the largest provider of humanitarian assistance in the territory.
单凭立法对提升儿童网络安全並不足够。报告同时提出,家长、教师、社工、警察和网络供应商均有责任协助儿童保护自己。作为网络供应商的就更加是责无旁贷,他们不仅要密切留意伺服器上的资讯流动,更有责任删除不良的资讯,拦截或过滤恶意图片,为用家提供儿童友好的软件和硬件。
2010年,互联网监察机构(Internet Watch Foundation)发现,全球一共多达16,700条涉及儿童性虐待内容的图片在各地网站流传,並就此采取打击行动。然而,估计网上仍有数百万张同类照片,正侵害多达数以十万计的儿童。受害儿童更有年轻化的趋势,估计10岁以下受害者多达73%,而且涉及的图片内容亦愈益露骨及暴力。
报告反映在保护儿童网络安全存在的艰巨挑战,並就研究所得的数据作出务实回应。戈登.亚歷山先生续指:「我们可能永远无法消除所有网上威胁,毕竟互联网过于庞大,网络使用者存有高度自主性,同时大量新兴网上广告不断涌现。然而,倘若我们设法完全监控网络行为,为儿童提供全面的保障,却形同抵触互联网资讯自由的精神,扼杀网络世界的发展与创意,甚至会对互联网所能带来的各项好处造成破坏。」