Ethiopia's Ministry of Women and Social Affairs announced that it is cooperating with UNICEF to protect children from abuse on the internet, Minister Alemitu Umut has told local media.
"We have plan working with the UNICEF on child abuses. So we are working with the regional states to organize and build the network systems in the regional states and at the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs," Alemitu said.
The minister added that the department is working to promote children's understanding of how to use the internet.
According to Alemitu, such steps can protect children from "cyber and child abuses and online exploitations."
The ministry recently formed a technical working group of interested governmental and non-governmental organizations to focus on coordinating measures to keep children safe online, the local media said.
UNICEF is the United Nations Children's Fund and works to protect the rights of children.
The study said that about a quarter of Ethiopian children aged 12-17 use the internet and only two percent of them do not use smartphones to connect.
According to a study conducted by Security.org, the tech company focusing on safety, 21 percent of children aged 10-18 had been cyberbullied in 2022.
The most effective means of preventing cyberbullying is to block the abuser, the UNICEF informed.