Screen time and pornography are “new drugs” that have become addictions for Fiji’s children and adults alike.
Minister for Women Lynda Tabuya said this as shared her worries about the social media content being consumed by young people.
She referred to the latest Bill before the Australian Parliament to ban all social media for those 16 and under.
“It is a start, and we need to look at something like that as well, because even screen time has become an addiction, even pornography has become an addiction,” she said.
“They’re new drugs. Now in the 21st century, it’s not just the hard drugs. Children are on that all the time.”
Ms Tabuya said the ministry had more reports of neglect than child abuse in the ministry.
“Children being left unsupervised. They are just given the phone; parents on the phone, children on the phone.
“Again, the importance to bring it back to the home and family setting. What are we doing to strengthen the home and the family? And that’s where we need to work together.”
Ms Tabuya also confirmed that the ministry, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), had also conducted a gender analysis of the Online Safety Act, which would be unveiled next month.
Ms Tabuya said there was a dire need to equip the cyber crime unit and the Online Safety Commission with laws that had “teeth” to protect Fijians.
“So we’re looking forward to that, because that needs to convert into changes in the legislation to be able to enable our online safety commissioners and the Fiji Police Force to have more powers to tackle this.
“Otherwise, right now, it’s a privacy issue. The telecommunications companies say, ‘oh, it’s a privacy right of an individual’. That’s what the Telecommunications Act says. No, we need to change that Act.
“We need to change the Crimes Act and make it a real crime to do this, and we have to be because our laws are still too general. The Crimes Act, it needs to be put in there. If you traffic child pornography, it’s a crime. We’ve got to put it in the Crimes Act so that it deters people from doing it. We’ve got to start with the laws.”
