Dubai: New legal channels should be created to police, prosecute and try in court cases where children have been victimised by internet crimes, said top police experts at a seminar on Sunday delving into the dangers of online exposure.
While some parents may believe that leaving their children surfing the internet on tablets or smart phones is harmless, many don’t know that exposure to thousands of free online video games, social media and websites have a dark side, experts warned.
During the seminar to tackle the risks and dangers behind social networks on children, senior officials warned that some websites may be hurting impressionable youth by exposing them to violence, crime and promotion of drug culture.
- Prosecutor-General Mohammad Ali Rustom | Head of the Family and Juveniles Prosecution
The officials recommended creating a specialised police, prosecution and court for children to deal with the new crimes that happen to children especially through social media channels.
Prosecutor-General Mohammad Ali Rustom, Head of the Family and Juveniles Prosecution, said despite the fact that Dubai has a specialised prosecution for family and juveniles cases, it is better to have specialised prosecution for children.
“We need a specialised prosecution, court and even police for children cases. The world is changing so fast that we need to be ready for the new trendy crimes,” Prosecutor Rustom said during the seminar held by Juvenile Welfare Association in Dubai on Sunday.
According to a recent local study done by Supreme Council of Family Affairs, of the 80 per cent of people under 18-year-old using social media networks in the UAE, especially Facebook. 25 per cent of them are connected for more than four hours per day.
Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chairman of Dubai Police and Public Security, said that despite the benefit of internet and social media, there are risks facing our children.
“The teenagers are not controlling their times because they spend many hours connected. They can be deceived and blackmailed by strangers using the different applications every day without monitoring from parents. We must protect our children by guiding them to the proper use of internet and see with whom they are connecting and chatting on daily bases,” Lt-Gen Tamim said.
He urged parents to take their responsibility and spend more time with their children.
“Know what your child is doing while using the phone or tablets. Schools can monitor the students but the major role lies with the parents,” Lt-Gen Tamim added.
According to statistics by Al Ameen service, there were 450 blackmail cases recorded this year mainly on Instagram and Snap Chat.
Al Ameen service received 2,089 calls from different people to report different crimes.
“Many people call us to protect their privacy and to solve their problems. We have 450 complaints about electronic blackmail in the UAE.
One of the issues, is students hacking accounts of their colleagues and blackmailing them for money and inappropriate matters. They manage to get passwords of the account and blackmail the victim. Parents must educate their children not to open their accounts on their friends’ devices or in front of them. People should protect the user name and password for their account to avoid falling in troubles,” Yousuf Abdul Rahman from Al Ameen service said.
Meanwhile, some speakers talked about finding new procedures to cut time and effort for teenagers when they become victims in online incidents.
A mother of a 12-year-old Emirati boy who was a victim of verbal abuse by an adult said her son was trying to buy a quad-bike on Instagram when he saw an advertisement by a man with questionable intentions.
“The pervert called my son to make sure he is teenager and then encouraged him to commit a sin over the phone. When I went to police station, it took me a long time and many visits between stations and prosecutions and until now, I don’t know what happened in the case. We need specialised bodies for children as in such cases they can’t be treated like adults and taken to police station for questioning,” an Emirati mother said.
Officials recommended to create an app for children to alert police about online incidents like blackmail and harrassment.
