-by Kimberly Giddings
The Government is taking decisive steps to protect children from harmful content on social media and the wider internet.
Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Anil Nandlall made the announcement during his weekly Issues in the News programme, following the launch of a national consultation led by Minister Gail Teixeira.
The Attorney General explained that the government is examining legislative models from Europe, Africa, and Asia
as it crafts a regulatory framework tailored to Guyana’s unique social realities and sensitivities. He assured that the process will be highly consultative as demonstrated with the commencement of the first round of consultations, which brought together stakeholders for open dialogue on the issue.
“So we are not going to reinvent the wheel we will borrow from those models and of course we will examine our society we’ll examine the peculiarities of our society we’ll examine the social realities of our society we will examine the sensitivities of our society and craft a model that is best suited for us but significantly we are going to do so in a consultative manner,” he explained.
Emphasising the need for a collective approach, Nandlall stressed that parents, teachers, social workers, and communities must play an active role in keeping children safe online, noting that government cannot monitor what children are exposed to at home.
“We will be coming to your community to hold the consultations we are not going to only concentrate in the urban centers we have already committed to conduct similar consultative engagements in all the regions of our country in order to ensure that we have a bill that enjoys national support as far as possible,” he added.
This is an initiative by President Irfaan Ali, when he announced plans for national consultations on the misuse of social media and its effects on children.
The President clarified that the goal is not to restrict access to digital platforms, but to ensure safer, more responsible online engagement.