ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the United Nations International Children’s Fund (Unicef) Pakistan have collaborated to promote a safe, secure and productive online environment for the children.

The collaboration aims to prevent and report incidents of online child abuse and encourage responsible internet usage among the children, caregivers and educators through awareness and capacity-building efforts. Under this collaboration, PTA has already declared “1121” as free emergency helpline for child protection whereas other areas of focus will be implemented by both sides.

Muhammad Naveed, chairman PTA and Abdullah Fadil, representative UNICEF Pakistan along with senior officers from both PTA and UNICEF attended the ceremony.

Speaking at the occasion, the chairman PTA said that the PTA is determined to provide a secure and risk-free digital environment for children in Pakistan. UNICEF Pakistan’s strong network with child protection stakeholders will pave way for better reporting of child online abuse cases to PTA and subsequent removal of objectionable content from the internet.

The representative of UNICEF Pakistan also emphasized on the importance of this collaboration and assured of their full cooperation to implement the agreed activities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023