Macra bemoans girls cyberbullying, harassment
Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has bemoaned the continued acts of cyberbullying and harassment targeting girls.
In an interview on Tuesday during the signing ceremony of Plan Malawi International’s Free To Be Online Campaign in Blantyre, Macra director general Henry Shamu said the institution as a telecommunications regulator, its involvement in the campaign will be critical.
He said: “There are a number of ways in which we will be participating and as you know, Macra has already initiated registration of sim cards so that we know who is behind what numbers.
“Macra also has the Computer Emergency Response Team [Cert], which is a unit that coordinates cybercrime and this is in use.”
Shamu said as part of their involvement in the campaign, Macra will hold various activities including raising awareness and introducing a Safer Internet Day.
Plan International Malawi is running a campaign against cyberbullying and harassment that targets girls.
In a separate interview, Plan International Malawi communications and campaigns manager Rogers Siula said the campaign follows research that was conducted in 22 countries globally involving 14 000 girls and found that over 56 percent of them have faced cyberbullying and harassment.
He said: “So for this year’s International Day of the Girl Child, we decided to use these findings to come up with a campaign calling on the public and all social media users to stop these acts and respect laws that govern social media use.”
Siula said there is need for concerted efforts to end acts of cyberbullying and harassment and thereby, save girls from effects of such acts.
During International Day of the Girl Child commemorations in Lilongwe last Friday, First Lady Monica Chakwera hailed stakeholders, including Plan International Malawi, for safeguarding girl’s rights to enhance development in the country.
She said cybe bullying negatively affects girls and called for measures to protect them.
This year’s International Day of the Girl Child commemorations were held under the theme My Voice, Our Equal Future.
