Caribbean News
JAMAICA: Children Warned Not To Overshare Personal Information Online
#Jamaica, May 30, 2018 – Kingston – Children are being warned to desist from oversharing personal information on social media platforms, as a worrying trend has emerged of them going missing after making face-to-face contact with strangers they met online.
State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, issued the caution to students at the National Missing Children’s Forum, held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston on May 25. Mr. Green urged the children to be careful, “as social media profiles tell the world a lot about you”.
“Some of you are leaving profiles that you think will go away (but) they will follow you for your entire life. You have to take significant note of that,” he added.
The State Minister recalled an incident in which a child residing in Montego Bay, St. James, went missing and was found dead after leaving home to meet an individual she had met through social media.
Meanwhile, Director of Safety and Security in Schools, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Coleridge Minto, told JIS News that he continues to ramp up public education by speaking to students about the dangers of social media.
The Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has also assisted children in understanding the dangers of posting locations and other identifying information online.
“C-TOC has been going into the schools to ensure we promote the message of responsible use of social media, and we find that it is working to an extent, but we still have more work to do in terms of making our parents empowered to understand social media in a responsible way,” Mr. Minto said.
Aimed at bringing together a wide cross section of individuals to discuss the ongoing issue of missing and exploited children, the forum was held under the theme ‘Be the Change! Help us bring our children home’.
Held against the observance of International Missing Children’s Day, the forum was intended to strengthen the local legislative policy framework that governs missing children and to educate them on how to better protect themselves. Meanwhile, data provided by the Ananda Alert Secretariat show continued decline in the number of children reported missing annually.
In 2017, a total of 1,674 children were reported missing, which shows a three per cent decline when compared to the corresponding period in 2016. Of those children, a total of 1,476 were returned home, maintaining a nine out of 10 return or rate of recovery.
For her part, Chief Executive Officer of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Rosalee Gage-Grey, said that “one child lost is a missed opportunity in the furtherance of a prosperous Jamaica”. She emphasised that the agency remains committed to reuniting families with their loved ones and will be continuing to explore ways to tackle violence against children.
This is to be done through an improved National Plan of Action for Violence against Children, which includes the roll-out of a public education campaign in coming months.
“We firmly believe that the conversation about violence against children must be on the agenda of every household across the island,” she said.
During the forum, four schools selected in the Ananda Alert Safe Schools Competition presented on tangible projects within their schools aimed at fostering a safer school community and building awareness around the Ananda Alert System.
The schools are Frome Technical High in Westmoreland, Greater Portmore High in St. Catherine, Glenmuir High in Clarendon and Westwood High in Trelawny.
Release: JIS
KINGSTON, April 29 (JIS):
Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the outcome of discussions arising from the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) will assist in guiding the Government’s planning for climate change.
This, he points out, is important for climate mitigation as well as building Jamaica’s resilience.
“We look forward to the discussions that will, no doubt, take place. We look forward to the basis of planning for the Government to streamline its investments to ensure you have the tools that you need to better advise us, that the WRA (Water Resources Authority) has the tools to digitise its monitoring network, and that all of the agencies that touch our planning mechanisms have the tools. But we need to know what we are facing, and we’re guided by your expertise,” Minister Samuda said.
He was addressing the opening ceremony for the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (April 29).
Senator Samuda said given the fact that the climate has changed and continues to do so, investments in and collaborations on building Jamaica’s predictive and scientific capacity must be prioritised.
“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue.
“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year, we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.
Principal Director, Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, explained that the forum aims to, among other things, establish a collaboration platform for climate services providers and users to understand risks and opportunities of past, present and future climate developments, as well as improve inter-agency coordination of policies, plans and programmes.
Among the other presenters were Ambassador, European Union to Jamaica, Her Excellency Marianne Van Steen; Chief Scientist/Climatologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Adrian Trotman; and Head, Regional Climate Prediction Services, World Meteorological Organization, Wilfran Moufouma-Okia.
The Meteorological Service of Jamaica hosted the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) in partnership with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology and the World Meteorological Organization.
The National Stakeholder Consultation is a governance mechanism that guides how different sectors or actors work together to create products that contribute to adaptation and resilience-building. It seeks to create a road map for the development and implementation of climate services to inform decision-making.
NCF-1 aims to bridge the gap between climate providers and users. It increases the use of science-based information in decision-making and operations with the aim of generating and delivering co-produced and co-designed products and services.
CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON
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