Praneeta Prakash 
The Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission is urging parents to be vigilant about their children’s online activities following a disturbing incident involving two young siblings.
During a panel discussion on National Scam Awareness Week, Commission Chair Parvesh Sharma revealed that an 11-year-old boy had allegedly raped his nine-year-old sister after accessing explicit content online.
He says this incident highlights the serious risks children face when exposed to harmful material on the internet.
“We’ve had a situation where an 11-year-old child, 11-year-old male boy raped his nine-year-old sister just looking through internet-porn sites and that’s really happened in Fiji but the authorities have had to deal with it. So parents need to be very vigilant in terms of what is going on in the home. They can’t just give internet to children and not monitor.”
Save the Children Fiji Chief Executive Shairana Ali is also calling on parents to have open conversations with their children about online safety and to set boundaries for internet usage.
“Based on the work we’ve done in the communities, and it goes to any kind of child protection issue that we are advocating on with the communities, behavior change takes time. But we feel strongly that that should be the approach, balancing that right to privacy with knowing at the same time what your children are up to online. So, it is a safety, and we strongly believe that safety and privacy must be respected.”
Ali adds that by actively monitoring their children’s online behavior, parents can help ensure that they are using the internet safely and responsibly.
