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what the laws to protect children from cyberspace

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Abstract

The present study aimed to critically review the legal frameworks on cyber safety of children living in the member countries of the Asean (ASEAN) and related policy implications. Data for the nowadays inquiry were collected from secondary sources. The results revealed numerous inconsistencies amidst the ASEAN countries in legislation pertaining to the online safety of children. The present written report argues that these inconsistencies could be used by criminals to easily exploit children. The study identified loopholes in legislation on age of consent, possession of child pornography, cyber bullying and sexual grooming of children. Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam have no clear definition of the term kid pornography, which means it may exist possible for criminals to evade conviction for product, possession and distribution of child pornography. Legislation in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam does not prohibit an individual from possessing kid pornography. Simply three Asean nations have a legal framework regarding child grooming for sexual purposes, while only 2 have policies regarding cyberbullying, and simply three ASEAN nations take a formal global brotherhood with international law enforcement initiatives. Based on these findings, the written report argues that the legal inconsistencies among ASEAN nations might result in cantankerous-border sexual corruption and exploitation of children. Accordingly, information technology is suggested that countries in the Asean region need to urgently identify these legal inconsistencies and collaborate to improve the rubber of their children in cyberspace.

Background

The Asean (Asean) comprises of ten nations: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao people's democratic republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, located in the Southeast Asian part of the globe. This regional cooperative initiative was formed in 1967 with the aim of accelerating economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through equality and partnership in society to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful customs of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN University network, 2021). The association has established dialogue and partnerships with Australia, Canada, Mainland china, the European union, India, Japan, New Zealand, the South korea, Russia and the USA in order to foster constructive dialogue and consultation on political and security bug of common interest and concern and to make pregnant contributions to efforts towards confidence-building and preventive affairs in the Asia–Pacific region (Asean, 2021). The globe's ii about populous nations, China and India, are firsthand neighbours of the ASEAN countries but are non members of Asean. These countries only concord the condition of dialogue partners. All the same, these two leading economies of the world have a constant influence on the sociopolitical landscape of the ASEAN region, impacting the peace and prosperity of these nations (Chatterji, 2021; Izzuddin, 2020).

The 10 countries located within the Asean region occupy 4.5 meg square kilometres of land with a population of 634.5 million. The region comprises diverse population groups which are socially and culturally dissimilar, and the association includes nations with extremely disparate economic backgrounds. For example, the GDP per capita of Singapore is Usa$52,962, as against Cambodia's per capita Gross domestic product of US$1266.xxx (ASEAN, 2017). The socioculturally diverse population groups within these countries make this region diverse and politically vibrant. The sociopolitical landscape of these nations is marked past ongoing regional issues that touch on the stability of the region. For instance, Myanmar has experienced serious and ongoing political turmoil inside its territory for many years, impacting its neighbours also (Cuddy, 2021). Politically, Negara brunei darussalam and Thailand are all the same monarchies with traditional governance. Cambodia and Vietnam were involved in protracted wars, leading to cycles of poverty and famine (Doyle, 2014). Other member nations of Association of southeast asian nations take evolved their ain political structures with a combination of democracy and autocracy. Such vast diversity in the geo-sociopolitical background of the region might have contributed to a range of inconsistencies in policy conception and cross-border collaboration, adding many layers of complication to law enforcement and policing. This could be the reason for the range of transnational crime and security challenges which accept been plaguing this region for a long fourth dimension (UNODC, 2017). Sexual exploitation of children has long been a significant challenge for the Association of southeast asian nations countries. The region has some of the world's almost cute tourist destinations, alluring visitors from all over the world. For case, in the year 2019, approximately 51.57 million tourists visited the ASEAN region, compared to merely thirty meg in 2010 (Statista, 2019). While the tourism industry improved the economic growth of the region, information technology has also resulted in children increasingly becoming the targets of sexual exploitation (for a definition of this and other primal terms used in this research, please refer to Appendix), and there has been a longstanding business organisation in relation to the increase in child sexual exploitation (Refer to Appendix) in the Asean region (ECPAT, 2016a, b).

The recent advancements in information and communication technologies have added another layer to the complication of law enforcement challenges in the Asean region. These countries rank as the most engaged mobile Net users in the world. In that location were an estimated 400 million Net users in the region (Reuters, 2021), and 90% of them connected to the Internet primarily through mobile phones (e-Economy Bounding main, 2019). The ease of connectivity with the Internet has created countless opportunities for ASEAN communities, particularly youth from minority, multi-ethnic and remote communities. The Net penetration rate in the Asean region ranges from a very high 97.five% in Brunei to 49.iv% in Laos, making the ASEAN youth amid the about online engaged in the world. Except in Myanmar and Laos, all other countries in the region accept an Internet penetration charge per unit above 70% (Statista, 2021). It has been predicted that Southeast Asia's Cyberspace economy, worth $105 billion in the year 2021, will encounter further growth due to the COVID-nineteen shutdowns prompting more consumers to go online. Specifically, countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines saw twoscore million new Net users (Reuters, 2021). The schoolhouse closures due to COVID-19 since early on 2020 take resulted in an unprecedented and sudden increase in children accessing the Net for online learning. The UNICEF (2021a, b, c) estimated that across Eastern asia and the Pacific region, school closures had affected over 325 meg children, and this tendency has contributed to an historic increase in children accessing the Internet.

The other geopolitical developments in the Association of southeast asian nations region take too resulted in a significant increment in young people accessing the Internet. For example, there was a political coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, which prompted the netizens in this country and the Association of southeast asian nations region to bring together the online commonage of pro-democracy youth movements. These pro-democracy youth movements were inspired by the geopolitical turmoil occurring in neighbouring countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Myanmar. The ascent of digital activism beyond Southeast Asia in the past half-decade has introduced a new trend of Millennials using social media to vocalisation their concerns and garner sympathy for the citizens in the region. For case, the Milk and Tea Alliance is one such netizen political alliance that has gained popularity rapidly, prompting a surge in young people accessing the cyberspace in the ASEAN region (Lee, 2021). While it is difficult to estimate the number of young people involved in these netizen political alliances, in Laos solitary—a country with a low Internet penetration charge per unit—the hashtag "if Lao politics was good", which is critical almost the Laotian government over corruption and inequality, had about 400,000 posts every bit of October 2020, which were also tagged with #MilkTeaAlliance (Leong, 2020).

While this unprecedented increase in the apply of Internet and communication applied science has empowered immature people in the ASEAN region in many ways, it has simultaneously as well increased the chance of children and young people beingness exposed to abuse and exploitation in net (delight refer to Appendix for a definition of this term). The rubber of children and immature people in this region has been further affected past COVID-19 due to a rapid increase in the number of children accessing the Net for educational activity and amusement purposes. However, this trend may non exist specific to children in the ASEAN region lonely. A similar trend seems to be common for children in other regions of the earth every bit well. INTERPOL (2021) has reported a significant increase in child exploitation due to COVID-19 in various parts of the earth. The pandemic prompted closure of schools, increasing the number of children exposed to the dangers of cyberspace. Restriction of international travel and tourism have led kid exploitation perpetrators to use the Internet to reach children, with economic hardships due to lockdowns forcing children from poor socioeconomic backgrounds to engage in online prostitution, while limited access to childcare and other support services is reducing the quality of supervision of children. The National Heart for Missing and Exploited Children received 4.2 million reports of child exploitation incidents in April 2021, which was an increase of 2 million when compared to March 2020 and an increase of three meg when compared to the figures as of April 2019 (Brewster, 2021). The Australian Federal Police reported 22,000 cases of child exploitation in Australia between July 2019 and June 2020, which was an increment of l% from more a year agone and suggests that COVID-19 could have played a major part in this increment (Yi, 2021).

While in that location was an increase in child abuse and exploitation around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic in general, the implications of this trend could be worse for children growing upward in the regions of the world which were already poor pre-COVID-19. For instance, Europol, the UK'due south National Crime Bureau, the Swedish Policy Dominance and other crime detection agencies around the earth have reported a significant increase in demand for child sexual corruption and exploitation livestreams from traffickers in the Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand (Sullivan, 2020). Specifically, children living in socioeconomically depressed parts of the Asean region were already experiencing severe abuse and exploitation in cyberspace even before COVID-19 (Author, 2015). The Globe Banking company (2021) has predicted that East asia and the Pacific region could see at least 11 million more people falling into poverty and missing meals, school and hospital visits. A vast majority of countries in the ASEAN region rely on tourism for a living, and these have been the worst afflicted economically, with heavy chore losses (Beh & Lin, 2021). Bear witness has emerged suggesting that children primarily are victims of the economic downturn due to COVID-xix (Sullivan, 2020). Information technology is time to critically analyse the extent to which kid protection legislations and policy frameworks of countries in the ASEAN region are proactive enough to safeguard their children during these economically testing times. Using information collected from secondary sources, the present written report critically reviewed the child cyber safety policies and legal frameworks of ASEAN countries.

Methodology

Information for the present study were nerveless from secondary sources. Online library resources, international bureau reports, newspaper articles and data available from other international data agencies were accessed to collect data. Child safety in cyberspace is a broad concept touching all sections of society—the individual kid, families, policymakers, Internet service providers and the international community. The present report aimed to critically review the policies affecting all these layers and how they impacted the online safety of children living in the ASEAN nations.

A Disquisitional Review of Kid Cyber Safety Policies and Legal Frameworks in the Asean Region

The Asean region consists of x nations that are various in their social and cultural heritage. These nations comprise a multitude of communities with rich traditions and value systems influenced past the region's long history and their various customs, traditions, religious beliefs, economic progress, innovation and technological composure (ASEAN, 2021). The ASEAN region has regions with significant economic disparity. At one end of the spectrum, the region includes developed countries such as Singapore, while at the other finish are countries plagued by several decades of state of war, political turmoil and indelible poverty. This region has been well known for the stateless, minority, migrant and rural populations pushed into poverty, exploitation and hardships due to geopolitical factors (ECPAT International, 2016a, b). These vast variations in the geopolitical, sociocultural and economical backgrounds in the region accept been at the heart of kid exploitation and the cyber prophylactic risks for children. The stark differences in the geopolitical backgrounds of countries located in close proximity in the region have created inconsistencies and loopholes in policies. Policymakers face the challenging and difficult task of bringing together regional countries with vast geopolitical internal issues collaborating to fight against offense fostered by the rapidly evolving information and advice technology revolution. These challenges are evident in the policy inconsistencies among the governments in the region. Table 1 presents a comparing of online child safety legislation of each ASEAN country, followed by a disquisitional review of these laws.

Table 1 A comparison of legislations regarding online child safety in the countries of ASEAN

Full size table

Negara brunei darussalam

Brunei had a population of 441,532, of whom 430, 500 people used the Net. Brunei had the highest Cyberspace penetration rate of 97.five% in the Asean region (Cyberspace world stats, 2021). Brunei implemented the Child Online Protection National Strategy Framework in 2015 (Abdullah and Metussin, 2016), and this framework clearly defined the term child pornography in line with the international standards and prohibited possession and distribution of child pornography. This policy framework had many other kid cyber safety mechanisms. For case, it made sexual training of a person under 16, portraying a sexual act in the presence of a person under 16 and commercial sexual practice with a person under the historic period of 18 either inside or exterior Brunei punishable past law. This policy framework also specified that it is mandatory for individuals and relevant bodies to report possession and distribution of child pornography. Prior to this framework, Negara brunei darussalam had Penal lawmaking 2001, which had legislations protecting children in general (Negara brunei darussalam Attorney General's Sleeping room, 2001), and this was amended in 2016 (Negara brunei darussalam Attorney General'south Sleeping room, 2001). All the same, this amended version had no specific mention of cyber safety of children. Similarly, Brunei had the Children and Young Persons Order 2006 (Negara brunei darussalam Government, 2006), which also had no mention of the cyber safety of children. Brunei had no laws addressing cyberbullying and no legislative requirements for Internet Service Providers (ISP) to report kid abuse materials to law enforcement agencies or other relevant authorities when they learn of it on their networks (Siti Khairunnisa, et al., 2013).

Cambodia

Kingdom of cambodia had a population of sixteen,946,438 and amongst this population 11,786,000 used the Cyberspace, indicating an internet penetration rate of 69.v% (Internet world stats, 2021). UNESCO estimated that 80.4% of Cambodian girls aged xv–24 are online, compared to 91.5% boys. The online population of Kingdom of cambodia was getting younger, with 4.v% of children under 15 years of age using the Internet (Xinhuanet, 2019). Cambodia passed the Suppression of Homo Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Police in 2008 (International Labour Organisation, 2020), and this police force criminalised child pornography. Withal, information technology only declared the display of child pornography in public places as a criminal act and did not prohibit possession and use of child pornography in individual residences. In 2012 the Cambodian Government announced its intention to adopt Cambodia's first always cybercrime constabulary, and a draft was leaked in 2014, but no farther details were made available (Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, 2021). Recently, the Child Protection Unit of the Cambodian Government established Internet Crimes Confronting Children (ICAC)—an online group to gainsay any form of online child sexual exploitation and abuse—only no further data had been released (Business & Human Rights, 2021).

No laws existed regulating sex with children in Cambodia. The age of consent in Cambodia was sixteen years which meant sex with a child was legal in the country and prosecution for sex activity with a xv-twelvemonth-one-time kid was non possible nether Article 42 of the UNTAC law (1992) (Ammon, 2019). There were no laws prohibiting child abuse in cyberspace, and hush-hush investigations in sexual abuse cases were non permitted under Cambodian constabulary, hindering the authorities' ability to take whatsoever disciplinary action (Blomberg, 2019). Action Pour Les Enfantes (2021) reported an increase in kid exploitation and sharing of pornographic pictures of young girls via the Internet. Information technology received information related to 30 such incidents in the start quarter of 2021. As per a recently conducted UNICEF poll and youth talk, 85.7% of immature Cambodians aged between 12 and 15 were in danger of online violence, cyberbullying and digital harassment (The ASEAN Post, 2021). The Xinhuanet (2021) reported that Cambodia'south Ministry building of Mail service and Telecommunication's research showed 26 per cent of the Internet users in Cambodia had experienced online harassment, and the majority were children. Despite this emerging show, Cambodia had not legislated any laws pertaining to cyberbullying. There was no Cambodian law requiring ISPs to written report material endangering child safety in net. Notwithstanding the loftier penetration rate of the Internet, with almost two-thirds of the population accessing the Internet and most of them beingness children, Cambodia had shown fiddling interest in safeguarding its children in net.

Indonesia

Republic of indonesia had a population of 276,361,783, and inside this population 196,400,000 used the Internet, showing an Internet penetration charge per unit of 71.1% (Internet world stats, 2021). Indonesia had been proactive in passing a range of legislations to safeguard children in cyberspace. For example, its Penal Code Article 4 paragraph ane (f) clearly defined child pornography and prohibited exposing children to pornographic materials. Articles 29, 31, 32, 33 and 38 declare producing, downloading, possessing, funding and forcing children to engage in the production of pornography equally punishable past 6 to 15 years imprisonment and a heavy fine (International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, 2017). The Electronic Information Technology Police (2008) made cyberbullying punishable. Its Article 27 (3) mandated that anyone distributing and/or transmitting and/or accessing electronic information and/or electronic documents that insult the child is punishable by a prison judgement of 6 years and a heavy penalty. In add-on, Article 59A and Article 69 of the Child Protection Human activity protect children from cyberbullying (Arliman et al., 2018). Wismayanti and et al. (2019), based on a systematic review of xxx research articles and ix policy and legal documents, reported the contradictions in the definition of child in the legislations, increasing the vulnerability of children to sexual abuse, and this was specially the case for girls. Sexual preparation of children was punishable by Indonesian law, and recently Republic of indonesia passed a chemical castration law for paedophiles in 2016 (BBC, 2016), leading medical professionals to question the ethicality of chemical castration. Indonesia had no legislation mandating ISPs to report any online textile with child corruption or exploitation. Considering that it is a country with a large population and with virtually 65 million young people aged x to 24, comprising 28% of the population (United Nations Population Fund, 2021), Indonesia's legal and policy framework on cyber prophylactic of children needed urgent reformation.

Lao people's democratic republic

The Lao People's Autonomous Republic had a population of vii,379,358, and of this population, three,645,000 used the Internet, reflecting an Cyberspace penetration rate of 49.4% (Internet world stats, 2021). Lao people's democratic republic passed a Constabulary on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Children in 2006. Its Article 86 on disseminating child pornography alleged that any person who produces, distributes, disseminates, imports, exports, displays or sells magazines, photographs, films, videos, VCDs, DVDs and other items of child pornography shall be punished by imprisonment from ane to 3 years and fined from ii,000,000 Kip to six,000,000 Kip (Government of Laos, 2006). However, this constabulary was not clear about the age of consent, and it indicated the minimum historic period of consent equally 15 years, which makes enforcement of the law on paedophiles difficult. This legal loophole in Lao people's democratic republic and in other fellow member nations of Association of southeast asian nations with a lower age of consent had presented a major threat to the wellbeing of children. Children become like shooting fish in a barrel targets for abusers and for the sex activity manufacture which could exploit children just nonetheless remain within the legal limits. Laos passed laws prohibiting the production and dissemination of pornographic content. Article 138 of the Police on Prevention and combating Cyber Law-breaking prohibited the dissemination of pornography (ECPAT, 2017). Laos had no specific legislation on online child sexual exploitation. Laos had no specific law or legislation concerning the utilise of the Internet to commit crimes against children or grooming, but had enacted laws to assist prevent children from accessing dangerous materials online (ECPAT, 2017). This law and no other laws in Laos obligate ISPs to written report whatsoever materials present in their network with the potential of harming children. Due to an increase in cyberbullying in Laos, the Minister of Mail and Telecommunications signed a new ministerial regulation in Baronial 2020 authorising the Laos Computer Emergency Response Team to receive complaints from those who had been afflicted by cyberbullying (Phonevilay, 2020), but no information was bachelor in terms of the number of children affected by cyberbullying or the number of complaints received.

Malaysia

Malaysia had a population of 32,776,194, and of this population, 29,161,765 used the Internet, with a high Internet penetration rate of 89% (Internet world stats, 2021). Malaysia passed the Sexual Offences Against Children Deed in 2017 (Authorities of Malaysia, 2017). This act defined the pregnant of kid pornography and prohibited producing, accessing, selling and distributing child pornography. This Act also prohibited grooming of children for sexual purposes and meeting with the child following grooming. Information technology fabricated not-physical sexual assail on the kid online punishable by law. While Ushama and Jalil (2020) stated that this Act had resulted in substantial reform of Malaysian law, no data pertaining to the number of convictions through this Act were bachelor. Autonomously from this, Malaysia had no law in relation to cyber condom of children. The Communications and Multimedia Human activity 1998 (Sect. 211) prohibited indecent, obscene, false, menacing or offensive contents soliciting with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person, and Sect. 233 prohibited the employ of network facilities or network services for commercial or non-commercial purposes (UNICEF, 2019). Nonetheless, this legislation had its limitations, such as information technology did non criminalise possession of obscene contents and the penalties were light for any offence related to this legislation. Malaysian ISPs were not obligated to cake, delete or report offensive content involving kid sexual corruption and exploitation (ECPAT, 2019). Malaysia was reported to exist home for 20,000 IP addresses uploading and downloading photographs and visuals of kid pornography, which was the highest number of such IP addresses in Southeast Asia (HAKAM, 2019). While Malaysia ranked 2d in Asia for cyberbullying among youth (Xiang, 2020), it had no specific law related to cyberbullying. With a high Internet penetration rate of 89%, Malaysia has a long way to go to ensure a safety net for its children.

Myanmar

Myanmar had a population of 54,806,012, and of this population, 28,530,000 used the Internet, which is an Cyberspace penetration rate of 52.ane% (Net world stats, 2021). Myanmar enacted its penal lawmaking, but this had no mention of online child sexual exploitation. Chapter Fourteen of the lawmaking contained Sects. 292 and 293, which refer to the auction of obscene objects to young persons, but it did not ascertain the term obscene or whether this provision would apply to any type of online and offline media including child sexual abuse materials (ECPAT, 2020). Myanmar had no constabulary prohibiting other online child abuse, and exploitative acts such every bit grooming, livestreaming of kid sexual abuse and sexual extortion (ECPAT, 2020), which made Myanmar an dangerous state for children. Myanmar has been in serious political turmoil for a prolonged menstruation of fourth dimension and probably this could be the reason for its wearisome progress with policy making to protect its children in cyberspace. ISPs were not required to mandatorily report any cloth offending children online.

The Philippines

The Philippines had a population of 111,046,913, and within this population, 86,300,000 used the Internet, suggesting a high internet penetration rate of 77.seven% (Net world stats, 2021). The Philippines has been proactive in formulating legal safeguards for children in net. The country passed the Anti-Kid Pornography Human action 2009, which clearly defined child pornography and prohibited the interest of children under the age of 18 in whatsoever course of sexual activity (Lawphil, 2009). Section 4 of this Act prohibited preparation, Sect. 3 of this human action prohibited luring by enticement and Sect. nine mandated the ISPs to study whatsoever content harmful to children to the authorities within vii days. This Act mentioned individuals, syndicates (Sect. 5) and businesses (Sect. 10) as being liable for punishment for child pornography offences. The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Lawphil, 2012) was passed in 2012, which prohibited businesses and computer systems from producing or distributing child pornography materials and fabricated these punishable with heavy fines. The Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 prohibited the brandish of nudity and sexual acts online (Lawphil, 2010). This Human activity does not specify children, but information technology could protect children from being indirectly involved in any sexual acts. The Philippines passed the Anti-Bullying Act in 2013, and Sect. two of this Act conspicuously defined the meaning of all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying (Sect. two.d), while Sect. 3 of this act directed all simple and secondary schools to adopt policies to address bullying in their corresponding institutions. Section 4 identified the School Principal as being responsible for the implementation of the Deed, and Sect. 5 required schools to periodically report their cyber bullying policies (Lawphil, 2013). The Philippines had 12 years as the historic period of consent, which was the everyman in the region, and The Philippines was long criticised for this low age and in response to this Philippines increased its historic period of consent from 12 to 16 in 2020 (Mendiola, 2020).

Despite implementing the broad range of legal safeguards to protect children in internet, the Philippines has remained a major destination for kid abuse and exploitation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online sexual abuse of children in the Philippines increased by 264.6 per cent or to 202,605 during the community lockdown from March to May 2020, compared to 76,561 cases reported during the aforementioned period in 2019 (Reliefweb, 2021). Bug and delays in law enforcement take long been an issue. For example, in 2009 the United nations (2009) Commission on the Rights of the Kid best-selling that the natural disasters and armed conflicts in the country had hampered law enforcement from protecting children. This Commission too raised concerns regarding the delays in law enforcement to protect children and that authorities were non capable of taking timely actions to protect children. This Committee noted that the Philippines relied heavily on the participation of child victims to prosecute crimes. This deterred the children from taking part in the legal procedure or children refrained from reporting such crimes to government.

Singapore

Singapore had a population of 5,896,686, of whom 5,173,907 people used the Internet, which makes for a high Net penetration rate of 87.vii% (Cyberspace world stats, 2021). Singapore enacted the Penal Code of Singapore on 1 January 2020, which prohibited the production, distribution, ad and possession of child abuse material. This penal code likewise prohibited sexual grooming (Singapore Legal Communication, 2020). Apart from this, there is Penal code 224 (Sect. 293) which prohibited the sale of obscene materials to children (Singapore Government, 2011), Films Deed (Affiliate 107), Undesirable Publications Act (Affiliate 338) and Children and Young Persons Human action (Chapter 38), responsible for the intendance of children in Singapore. Singapore enacted its law criminalizing cyberbullying and stalking in 2014, which prohibited cyber harassment, bullying of children and other forms of sexual harassment (Palatino, 2014). Despite these proactive legal procedures, Singapore had no police force requiring ISPs to written report kid abuse and child exploitation material to law enforcement agencies if such materials appeared in their network. Due to its proactive approach, Singapore has a good track tape of cyber rubber for children. Information technology ranked quaternary out of 30 countries for having the best online safety for children, according to the Inaugural Child Online Rubber Alphabetize of the DQ Found (Yee, 2020).

Thailand

Thailand had a population of 69,950,850, of whom 57,000,000 used the Cyberspace, with a loftier Internet penetration rate of 81.5% (Internet globe stats, 2021). Thailand amended its Penal Code No. 24 in 2015 to enact new laws on child pornography. Section 3/17 of this Deed defined the term child pornography, and Sect. 4 of this Human action prohibited the possession of child pornography. Offenders possessing child pornography will be imprisoned for up to 5 years, and offenders sharing the pornography will be imprisoned up to 7 years. Importing and distributing child pornography in Thailand incurred a prison term ranging from three to ten years (Wikisource, 2015). Thailand passed the Child Protection Act, B.E. 2546 in 2003 (Government of Thailand, 2003), but this Act did not mention the cyber safety of children. Section 4 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Human action, B.E. 2551 (2008) (Regime of Thailand, 2008) mentioned the production or dissemination of child pornography but did not elaborate further. The Computer Law-breaking Act, B.Due east.2550 (2007) (Government of Thailand, 2007) prohibited the use of a computer system to disseminate computer data that contained pornographic material simply did non specify kid pornography. Neither this act or any other in Thailand required ISPs to written report kid abuse materials to law enforcement agencies or other relevant authorities when they acquire of information technology on their network. Thailand had no laws prohibiting sexual preparation of children and cyberbullying.

While Thailand had many legal frameworks on the cyber safety of children, police enforcement seemed to be weak for many reasons (ECPAT, 2016a, b). Online kid sexual practice abuse cases in Thailand hit a tape high during the COVID-19 shut downwardly. The Thai law-led Crimes Against Children job forcefulness rescued more 100 children during April and May 2020—almost double the 53 children rescued in 2018 (Wongsamuth, 2020). Thailand being a land with a high Internet penetration rate of 81.5%, big number of Thai children used the Cyberspace, exposing them to the take a chance of abuse and exploitation. Thailand's cyber safety laws for children are not commensurate with this increase in children using the Net.

Vietnam

Vietnam had a population of 98,168,833, and inside this population 71,540,000 used the Internet, with an Cyberspace penetration rate of 72.9% (Internet world stats, 2021). Vietnam revised its penal code in 2015 (Government of Vietnam, 2015). Article 326 of this Code defined child pornography and prohibited the production, sale and distribution of child pornographic textile and imposed a high penalization if these materials were distributed through Internet figurer networks, telecommunication networks or digital devices. The term kid pornography was not clearly divers in the Penal Code 2015, and this may exist open to misinterpretation for the incorrect purposes. Sexual training of children was yet to be prohibited in Vietnam (UNICEF, 2021a, b, c). The Penal Lawmaking 2015 hinted at cyberbullying as seriously infringing upon a person'southward dignity or award, just there was no legal framework to prohibit cyberbullying of children in Vietnam. Vietnam has taken the leadership in directing ISPs to report any "obscene material" harmful to children passing through their network. Nonetheless, the term "obscene material" was non clearly divers in the legislation.

Give-and-take

UNICEF (2020) expressed its concern that COVID-xix could severely jeopardise the gains made in reducing kid poverty and deprivation in the Eastern asia and Pacific region over the last 30 years and exacerbate existing inequalities and violations of children's rights (Islam, 2020). The United nations (2021) has predicted that the Asia Pacific region will suffer increased levels of unemployment, poverty and food insecurity due to the pandemic and that millions of girls are unlikely to ever return to school and are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. This business concern is very much relevant to the countries in the ASEAN region considering COVID-xix has severely affected the economic stability of the region, forcing millions of families into poverty. The ILO and UNICEF have warned that the COVID-xix outbreak could create the start increment in child labour in this region in more than xx years (Asean Post, 2021). Poverty had been the key cistron behind child abuse and exploitation in the ASEAN region in the past, and COVID-xix has created a perfect tempest. Evidence is emerging that children living in the ASEAN region take already come under increasing pressure to yield to sexual exploitation online (Child Fund Commonwealth of australia, 2021). In that location is an urgent need for ASEAN countries to take pre-emptive steps to safeguard their children. Strengthening the legal and policy frameworks to facilitate a quick response from law enforcement authorities could be the best way forward for these countries.

The present study, based on a critical analysis of the legal and policy frameworks on the cyber prophylactic of children in the ASEAN region, identified important legal loopholes which need immediate policy attending (Table 1). On a positive notation, most countries in the region have taken leadership in addressing the safety of children online and have passed legislations to prevent child corruption and kid exploitation in cyberspace. Still, the present study revealed some serious inconsistencies in these legislations, which increment the vulnerability of children online. A comparison in relation to the age of consent revealed inconsistencies in the region which have the potential for criminals abusing the legal loopholes. Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand were yet to clearly specify the age of consent. Malaysia had a legislation not specifying the age of consent for girls, which exposed girls to sexual exploitation, child marriage and training. Myanmar's police force specified xiv years every bit the historic period of consent, whereas Laos and Thailand had xv years as the age of consent. Firstly, the age of consent in most of these countries is quite low, and on top of that, there are inconsistencies in historic period of consent beyond borders. These inconsistencies in the legislation could be used against the children to force them into child marriages, forced sexual exploitation and abuse. For example, a 41-year-old Malaysian man married an eleven-year-old Thai daughter, which was legal at the time (The Guardian, 2018). The international standards practise not specify the minimum age of consent. Even so, the CRC Committee has considered 13 years as too early on for a child to consent to sexual activity. This Commission was of the view that the actual chapters of a kid to make a judgement needed consideration, and at the aforementioned fourth dimension sexual practice betwixt 2 underage adolescents should not be criminalised (UNICEF, 2021a, b, c). Children existence forced to become married to partners who are much older than their age is a trouble common in the Association of southeast asian nations region. South Asia has the highest rates of child marriage in the globe. Almost one in v (17%) of girls are married before the age of 15 years (UNICEF, a, b, c). ASEAN, together with UNICEF, UNFPA and Program International, reported that 35.4% of women in Lao PDR, 17% of women in Indonesia and 11% of women in Vietnam were married before 18 years of age and the adolescent nativity charge per unit in the ASEAN region was 47 births per one thousand females anile 15 to nineteen years (Association of southeast asian nations, 2019). The situation tin exist changed just if the countries in the region manage to increase the age of consent and criminalise any sexual coercion of children less than 18 years. The inconsistencies in historic period of consent in the Asean region encourage criminals to cross the borders to commit crimes against children, and international tourists groom children in these countries online to sexually exploit them and walk away with no penalty or punishment.

The child cyber safety legislations of Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam had inconsistencies in defining the term child pornography, and in some jurisdictions, possession of child pornography solitary was not considered an offence. The kid cyber safety legislations of Kingdom of cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam did not prohibit an individual from possessing child pornography. This loophole needs firsthand attention because these countries may non exist able to prosecute someone who possesses kid pornography materials and that sends bad signals to the perpetrators of crimes against children. Such inconsistencies in the legislation could promote cross-border criminal activities. The Asean region is very well known for cross-border crimes confronting children in the form of forced prostitution. A vast majority of kid sex activity offenders in Southeast Asia were nationals of the countries of the region. Recent research suggested that Asian men are more likely to sexually abuse young girls and to seek out young virgin girls (ECPAT, 2017).

Cyberbullying is another surface area that seems to have received policy attending only among six of the x ASEAN countries. Only the Philippines and Singapore had formulated systematic legislations requiring the schools to implement cyberbullying programs, while the other countries were however to have formal steps to foreclose cyberbullying. Inconsistencies in legislation criminalising the training of children for sexual exploitation in the ASEAN region was another major finding of the present study. Except for iv countries in the region (Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore), none of the remaining six ASEAN countries had whatever legislation criminalising sexual training. This loophole increases the vulnerability of children in these countries. Sexual grooming in cyberspace could be easily unleashed on a child because the perpetrator demand not to be physically present to approach the child. Frequently, the perpetrators change their identities to contact the child online and harm them. This serious crime had no legal deterrents in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao people's democratic republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Cyber grooming of children for sexual purposes is a transnational problem which requires a transnational solution by all Association of southeast asian nations countries. Inconsistencies in the legislation create safe havens for child predators, and the ASEAN region is urgently in demand of ASEAN communities collaborating with each other. The ASEAN countries may also do good by forging alliances with business entities such as banks, credit carte companies, digital payment systems and other entities to trace child sexual exploiters who use their money power to groom children for sexual purposes (Ward, 2019).

Internet service providers and content hosts could play an important preventive function by informing the regime about online material that is harmful to children. This can make internet safe for children. With this in view, many countries in the world have made it mandatory for ISPs to written report and remove all illegal and harmful content to forbid children accessing those. Unfortunately, the Philippines was the only state in the ASEAN region that had a legal requirement for the ISPs to written report contents that are not appropriate for children. All the remaining countries in the region were yet to take any steps, and it is time that Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam accept this matter seriously.

Kid abuse and exploitation in cyberspace is a crime that has no geographical borders, which makes it difficult for countries to bargain with the trouble without international cooperation. Except for Kingdom of cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand, none of the remaining seven countries in the ASEAN region had whatever global alliance with international police force enforcement initiatives (UNICEF, 2015). This might weaken the law enforcement capabilities of these countries, and they could become safe havens for illegal operators to target children for exploitation. Such inconsistency might weaken the Association of southeast asian nations region, setting off a chain reaction that might harm the other neighbouring countries in the region. ASEAN as an entity should take notation of this and ensure that at that place is consistency in the legal frameworks across borders.

Tabular array 2 presents a summary of the major findings of the study and provides suggestions to improve the legislations to protect the ASEAN children in cyberspace.

Table 2 Overall suggestions of the study

Full size table

Conclusion

Based on a critical review of the legal and policy frameworks of the ten countries in the ASEAN region, the present inquiry identified major inconsistencies in their child cyber safety laws. Definition of the term child pornography and legal punishment for production, possession and distribution of child pornography is one surface area that shows serious inconsistencies amid Association of southeast asian nations countries. The study argues that these inconsistencies might outcome in cantankerous-edge crimes which have serious implications for child safety. The present study revealed gross inconsistencies among ASEAN countries in the legal safeguards against preparation children for sexual purposes. Legislations on cyberbullying and obligations of ISPs to written report illegal contents in cyberspace to regime are the other areas where at that place are loopholes in the legislations of Asean countries. Keeping in view these legal loopholes and the pregnant variations in the legal framework in each Association of southeast asian nations land, the recommendation is that all ten countries in the region should exist signatories to international law enforcement treaties. This volition remove the inconsistencies across the countries and will prepare Association of southeast asian nations countries to work efficiently to reduce cross-border crimes against children in cyberspace. ASEAN equally a joint entity has already celebrated five decades of the alliance, and it is time that this entity prepares itself to bring commonality in their legal frameworks to empower their children to benefit from and savour the endless potential of cyberspace.

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Appendix: Definition of Primal Terms Used in the Study

Appendix: Definition of Fundamental Terms Used in the Written report

Child

Co-ordinate to Article 1 of the United nations Convention on the Rights of the Kid (CRC), a kid is anyone below the historic period of 18 years (Un, 1989).

Child/early on spousal relationship

According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Kid Article 24 (3), child marriage is the betrothal and the marriage of a child nether the age of 18 years.

Kid pornography/child sexual abuse materials

According to Article 2 (c) of the Un' Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Kid, child pornography means any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purpose.

Exploitation of children for sexual purposes

According to the Article 2 (b) of the United nations' Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the exploitation of children in/for prostitution means the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other course of consideration.

Grooming (online/offline) for sexual purposes

"Training" is the short name for the solicitation of children for sexual purposes. Training/online grooming refers to the process of establishing/building a relationship with a kid either in person or through the use of the Internet or other digital technologies to facilitate either online or offline sexual contact with that person.

Online kid sexual corruption

According to ILO C 182 – Article 3 (b), online child sexual abuse means the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances.

Sexual exploitation of children

According to the CRC – Article 34, sexual exploitation of children means the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices.

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Rahamathulla, M. Cyber Rubber of Children in the Clan of Southeast Asian Nations (Association of southeast asian nations) Region: a Critical Review of Legal Frameworks and Policy Implications. Int. Journal on Child Malt. 4, 375–400 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42448-021-00087-5

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  • DOI : https://doi.org/x.1007/s42448-021-00087-5

Keywords

  • Cyber safety
  • Legal framework
  • Policies
  • ASEAN
  • Child abuse
  • Kid exploitation
  • COVID-19

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Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42448-021-00087-5

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