KATHMANDU: A study published by Child Workers’ in Nepal Concern Centre (CWIN) and Save the Children-Sweden has urged for the formulation of code of conduct to regulate the Internet that is currently exposing children to pornography and sex through cybercafes.

Researchers studied 1,430 children aged 12 to 18 years in public and private schools of Kathmandu Valley. Of them, 11 percent admitted talking about sex online with strangers and 1.7 percent said they surf adult sites as one their five favourites.

Further, an estimated 5.6 per cent of the respondents said they were being harassed by the content of the sites, while 13.8 percent said they were experiencing back-biting. The study titled: ‘’A study on the use of internet by children’’ was conducted in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts. Of the total respondents, 66.4 percent were from private schools and 32.6 percent from public schools.

The study uncovered that 82 percent of the Valley children use the Internet, often through cybercafes . Of them 94.7 percent were private school students and 58.3 percent public school students.

“Regulations should be in place for cybercafés to ban cabins or cubicle and prevent children below 18 years old from accessing pornography,” the report urged the government, adding that an extraterritorial law should be enforced in order to address the possibility of foreign paedophiles exploiting children online.

The study further recommended for public awareness campaigns targeting children, parents and teachers as well as cybercafés and tele-centres. It further said that there should be ‘interrelation’ and ‘collaboration’ bodies in order to initiate and facilitate child protection measures by the IT industry and the government.

Among other things, the report also underlined the urgent need of a ‘cyber-crime police unit’ to enforce the cyber law. It also underscored the need for integrating online safety information into the educational system as more children access the internet through cybercafés.

The report also recommended for the knowledge-sharing among concerned stakeholders and lobbying against pornographic crimes.