Presentation captures Ghana's efforts towards the development of a Comprehensive Child Online Protection strategy from the Mobile Operators Perspective in Ghana.

1. CHILD ONLINE
PROTECTION IN
GHANA (MNO
PERSPECTIVE)
By. Derek Barnabas Laryea
derek.laryea@gmail.com

2. Outline
 Background
 Country Profile
 Ghana’s Domestic Laws
 Gaps in Laws
 Roadmap to Own a COP Strategy
 The Multi Stakeholder Forum
 Current Status
 Policy Recommendation

3. Background
 With about 40% of children and young people between
the ages of 0-14years in Ghana having access to ICTs in
2015, children are exposed to various forms of abuses
online
 Ghana always lacked a clear policy on COP as its
existing laws, National ICT Policy and Regulatory
guidelines never captured a clear plan to deal with COP
up until 2016
 A Validation Workshop on the National Cyber Security
Policy and Strategy convened under the auspices of the
Ministry of Communications at the Accra International
Conference Center in 2015, pushed for a

4. Country Profile
General Indicators
 Population: 27million (GSS 2015)
 Area: 238,537sq.km
 Region: West Africa Sub-Region
 ICT Regulator: National Information
Technology Agency (NITA)
Institutional Players
 Ministry: Ministry of Gender, Child and Social
Protection
 Departments:
 Department of Gender
 Department of Social Developments
 Department of Children
ICT Indicators
 Telecom Operators: 6 Operators (NCA, 2017)
 Broadband Wireless Access: 4 Operators
 Mobile Penetration: 130.91% (Sept 2017)
 Voice Subs: 37.45M (Sept 2017)
 Data Subs: 22.10M (July 2017)
 Domestic Bandwidth Capacity: 16TBps (MoC,
2015)
 Bandwidth Cost Dedicated: $3,000
 Submarine Cables: 5 submarine cable firms
 Internet Service Providers: 30 (NCA, Ghana)
 VSAT Data Providers: 57
 Domain name: .gh

5. Urbanization & Geography
Urban Geography is about 46%
Rural Geography is about 54%
Ghana has a lot of Mountains,
Rivers and Forests with extremely
large vegetation cover.
Over 100 ethnic groups and it
boasts of a rich cultural heritage
with diverse values.

6. Ghana’s Domestic Laws
 Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29)
 The Juvenile Act, 2003 (Act 653),
 The Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560)
 The Electronic Transaction Act, 2008 (Act 772)
 Data Protection Act, 2012
 Criminal Amendment Act, 2012.

7. Gaps in Domestic Laws
 The Electronic Transaction Act, 2008 (Act 772)
 Only this law criminalizes the production, distribution,
importing and exporting as well as the possession of child
pornography.
 All 6 Domestic Laws had/were;
 Silent on other forms of child online abuses such as
 Cyber Bullying, Sexting and Online Grooming of minors
 No Criminalization of child sex tourism (online)
 No aggravated penalties for the use of ICT to commit crime
against children, prohibit contents harmful to children as well
as mandate institutions to receive reports of crimes
committed against children using ICT

8. Roadmap to COP Strategy (I)
 NGOs, Civil Society pushed the Agenda
 World Vision International Ghana
 Undertook a Research to measure the effective of
August 2015, comparing Ghana’s domestic laws on
Child online protection against the International laws
that it has signed onto, it is clear Ghana has not done
much when it comes to online safety
 J Initiative
 Driving Awareness and capacity-building sessions (MNOs
support)
 Pushing the Agenda for a comprehensive COP policy
under the National Cyber Security Policy Framework

9. Roadmap to COP Strategy (II)
GSMA Public Policy Director,
Jenny Jones and Shola Sanni
(Policy Mgr) visits Ghana to
engage with Mobile Operators
(Airtel, Tigo, Vodafone and MTN
at the Telecoms Chamber.
 In Q4 2015, the GSMA engaged the MNOs in Ghana;
 For a collective action on the COP subject following GSMA’s collaboration
with Child Helpline International to promote Child Online Protection
 The Chamber with MNOs worked with multi stakeholders and
institutions to officially get the Government to launch the Nation
Steering Committee focused on putting together a comprehensive
COP strategy

10. Roadmap to COP Strategy (III)
 Ghana’s COP Strategy has
these 4 Cardinal Points
 Developing a sound research base and
monitoring framework involving the
establishment of COP stakeholder
committee
 Capacity building and awareness creation
 Developing Legal measures to review the
existing child protection act to include
COP
 Establishing a COP Portal with all Child
online education information and forms for
making online reports of COP incidences.
A National COP Strategy was formed
with the MNOs represented by the
Telecoms Chamber in August 2016

11. The Multi-Stakeholder Forum
 MNOs Chamber with GSMA
Launch a Ghana COP
Seminar
 Highlighting MNO commitment to the COP
Agenda while creating public awareness
 Bringing together all stakeholders within
the ecosystem to harmonize clear roles
and foster a clear roadmap to
operationalizing Ghana’s COP strategy
 Allowing International partners to share
global experience to
 All MNOs, Govt Institutions, NGOs, Civil
Society, Parents, Students, Media
participate in the whole day forum to
discuss Ghana’s COP plan
Key Stakeholders at the COP
Workshop
Participants at the National Workshop

12. Current Status
 Following the Mobile Industry led National Workshop, further
inputs were made into the COP strategy which is undergoing
review and finalization
 The Cyber Security Policy now captures COP as a major
pillar and spells out clear roles and policy initiatives for
dealing with all known online issues against children etc.
 The Mobile Industry has;
 Played an effective role in acting as a member of the
National Steering Committee on COP
 Used its influence to convene the largest gathering of COP
stakeholders to align further and create awareness to
enhance and implement the draft National COP strategy

13. Policy Recommendations
 For policy to protect children online to
operate effectively
 Governments should enhance the coherence of their
policy measures and tools in collaboration with all
stakeholders
 Public-private partnerships should be encourage to
promote self- and co-regulation
 harmonize all cross -ministerial initiatives on child
online/offline protections so we have a well-coordinated
effort which will facilitate international cooperation
 Constant review to keep the Country up to date with new
trends to ensure continuous safety of Ghana’s children

14. Conclusion
Materials Sourced and Read during Study
 https://www.commisceo-global.com/country-guides/ghana-guide
 http://mogcsp.gov.gh/about/departments/
 www.gsma.com
 http://www.statsghana.gov.gh/
 https://www.moc.gov.gh/child-online-protection-my-priority-hon-minister
 https://www.cert-gh.org/about/roles-functions/
 http://www.mfwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Child-online-Protection-in-Ghana-
Final.pdf
 World Bank Report
THANK YOU!!!