CYPRUS: Sharp increase in online abuse cases of children

Police data was made public today by the Children`s Rights Commissioner Leda Koursouba, after a meeting of the House Human Rights Committee.

In statements to the press, Koursouba said that these worrying statistics clearly show that more effective internet safety programmes must be applied, stressing at the same time that parents must be properly informed about the issue and learn how to protect their children.

Koursouba noted that according to the results of an EU survey on internet use, the amount of time children spend online increases steadily each year, and on average children use the internet 90 minutes per day.

At the same time the Commissioner noted that the internet is an extremely important educational tool, stressing that “we must all be alert to protect our children from such dangers.”

Committee Chairman, Sofoclis Fittis, expressed concern over the sharp increase in complaints made to the police.

He said the Committee has asked the police to give them further information on the nature of these abuse cases and on the number of prosecutions related to such cases.