International Telecommunication Union

Child Online Protection (COP) Initiative

National Survey 2009 Report
ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division
International Telecommunication Union
cybmail@itu.int

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Child Online Protection Initiative 
 
Child Safety Online in the World Today 
 
Introduction 
 
As part of the Child Online Protection (COP) initiative the ITU developed and 
distributed a questionnaire which addressed a broad range of issues connected to 
policy and practice in the field of online child safety. The questions in the survey 
broadly corresponded with the framework elaborated in the four COP guideline 
documents published in July, 2009.1 
 
The questionnaire was distributed to each of the ITU’s 191 Member States2 in 
October‐November, 2009.  For these purposes ITU countries are grouped together 
according to their membership of one of three UN‐wide categories which describe 
their level of economic development. These categories are: Developed, Developing 
and Least Developed.  
 
Altogether 51 replies to the questionnaire were received, or just over a quarter of 
the total. All of the countries that replied are listed alphabetically in Appendix I. 
 
A copy of the questionnaire is provided at Appendix II.  
 
It is the intention of the ITU to improve on the level of response in subsequent 
iterations of the questionnaire but the response to this first survey is large enough to 
make publishing the results both interesting and valuable. 
 
Respondents   
 
In the main the respondents were Governments themselves, typically through the 
Ministry or the relevant official body within the country with responsibility for 
internet, business or telecommunications policy.  
 
Appendix III contains a commentary on the statistical background to the survey 
results. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
1
 http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/gca/cop/guidelines/index.html 
2
 Listed in Appendix I.   
Areas covered by the questionnaire 
 
Altogether there were 21 questions. The questions covered the following areas of 
interest: 
 
1. Perceptions of online child safety issues  
2. The availability of advice or guidance  
3. The availability of awareness raising and related programmes 
4. National focal points 
5. The legal framework and law enforcement resources 
6. Perceptions of the level of co‐operation with industry 
7. What help do you think is needed in your country? 
 
Presentation of the survey results 
 
The information obtained from the replies is presented below, typically as 
aggregated data from all the respondents, but here and there commenting on or 
drawing out telling or significant findings.   
 
In the responses received by the ITU a great deal of additional information was 
provided by different countries. It is difficult to classify much of this data but the ITU 
is considering how to use it and publish it as a resource which may be of wider 
interest to and be used by others in the policy making and research communities.  
 
A planning tool 
 
The aggregated replies will be published on the web where it will act as a simple 
database and reference point allowing interested parties to track changes over time.  
 
An additional use of the database is as a planning tool which, again over time, will 
help the ITU and the wider research and policy‐making communities to focus their 
efforts on those countries or parts of the world where there is the greatest need in 
terms of online child safety and where the ITU’s or other agencies’ specific input can 
have the greatest beneficial impact. 
 
 
Strategic overview 
 
This is the first time a survey of this kind has been attempted by anyone on this sort 
of scale. The ITU therefore decided that, at least initially, the most useful 
contribution it could make would be to establish some broad parameters and 
indicators which can be tracked over time.  The findings of this survey can be 
correlated with or overlaid upon data obtained from other sources which describe in 
more detail how the internet is developing and being used by children and young 
people within a given country or region. 
 
Survey Results 
 
What was very striking about the results of the survey was that the answers given by 
the respondents were clustered in such a way as to suggest that one’s membership 
of any particular category was not a very strong indicator of the perceptions in that 
country or the views held locally about what needed to be done in the future to 
make the online world safer for children and young people.  
 
There were sometimes pronounced differences in terms of the level of activity 
currently taking place, and there were also significant differences in the level of 
resources available locally. In addition there were differences in relation to the legal 
frameworks which applied, but there was at the same time a widely shared 
consensus both as to the nature of the issues to be addressed and what needed to be 
done to do that. 
 
Countries in the Least Developed category tended to make fewer direct references to 
a range of specific safety issues that were of concern elsewhere, but this is very likely 
to be a reflection of the low levels of internet penetration and usage within the least 
developed countries. Countries in the Developed category were slightly less likely to 
give certain answers than countries in the other two categories, particularly around 
legal and law enforcement issues, but across all three developmental categories  
there was an obvious desire to learn from the experience of others and to obtain 
help from the more experienced. 
 
At one level this is very encouraging news. It suggests that across many different 
types of countries and cultures the same core safety messages and safety policies 
will, perhaps in varying degrees, be relevant to all children and young people. The 
ITU’s COP guideline documents or their equivalents produced by other agencies have 
a large and ready market waiting for them. 
 
However, because of legal differences between countries, because of different 
cultural, religious and political traditions, it does not follow that a single delivery 
model for the policies and practices embodied in the COP guidelines or similar 
documents will be equally or as readily effective everywhere.  
 
The COP guideline documents certainly do provide a broadly applicable framework 
that will or ought to be more or less useful for almost all countries, but to be truly 
effective an online child safety strategy needs to be tailored very specifically to fit 
local needs and local conditions. It needs to be owned and developed by those who 
will have the responsibility for implementing it. 
 
The lack in a significant number of countries of police officers trained to retrieve data 
from digital media, the shortage of forensic facilities available to law enforcement to 
analyze retrieved data and the lack of training for police officers in how children and 
young people use the new media, will be of particular concern. Any perceived 
weaknesses or deficiencies on the part of the law enforcement are an open invitation 
to criminals to shift their activities to those jurisdictions.
Perceptions of child safety issues 
 
a. What are the main problems facing children and young people in your 
country in relation to the internet? 
 
Exposure to harmful or inappropriate content came top, mentioned by 41 (out of 51 
countries), with exposure to illegal content coming second, mentioned by 40 
countries. Exposure to bullying or harassment came very close at 38.  
 
In relation to bullying or harassment, whilst every developed country that responded 
said it was an issue for them, and almost 75% of developing countries agreed, among 
the least developed countries it fell to half. This is highly likely to correlate with 
existing levels of penetration and usage3. 
 
Hacking and virus attacks was nominated by 36 countries and over‐use or “addiction” 
to the technology came close featuring in the returns of 32 countries. Only a minority 
of countries, 14 all told, nominated travelling sex offenders as an issue for them, and 
these were all in the category of Developing Countries or Least Developed countries. 
However, 27 countries saw exposure to sexual predators as being an issue for them. 
 
Exposure to fraud and/or financial scams was nominated by 29 countries (58%) and 
27 countries referred to age‐inappropriate commercial activity as a concern. 
 
 
2. The availability of advice or guidance  
 
a. Which agencies have published advice and guidance about safer 
internet usage by children and young people 
 
Five respondents said they knew of no agency in their country that had produced any 
advice or guidance on internet safety for children and young people.  These were all 
in developing and least developed countries. Otherwise the child safety material that 
was being published in the different countries was being published by a wide variety 
of agencies. Government Ministries and other official or regulatory bodies were the 
most common publishers identified but NGOs and civil society organizations were 
identified as the largest single group, mentioned by 27 countries. Law enforcement 
agencies (16), ISPs (23) and mobile phone companies (11) were also well 
represented. The least developed countries had the lowest availability of material 
across any of the headings given. 
 
 
b. Where has this advice and guidance been published? 
 
All of the Developed countries said that advice and guidelines was available on the 
internet and in printed form, and six out of ten said some had also featured on TV, 
                                                            
3
 See Appendix V for levels of internet usage per head of population listed alphabetically by their 
membership of the three main classification codes. 
radio or in other public media.  Responses in the developing and least developed 
countries were not as high with only two of the least developed countries 
acknowledging that they knew of any printed materials on internet safety.  
6 developing countries and 3 of the least developed countries said they knew of 
nothing that had been published in their own country. That is over 17% of the total. 
 
Many of the countries that responded provided links to local examples of advice and 
guidance materials available over the internet. 
 
c. What areas are covered by the advice or guidance? 
 
How to deal with or avoid exposure to harmful or inappropriate content was the 
most common form of advice and guidance offered listed by 41 out of the 51 
respondents, closely followed by advice and guidance on bullying or harassment (31), 
sexual predators (30) and how to report online concerns or incidents (31). Fraud or 
age inappropriate commercial activity was referred to in 21 instances and addiction 
were mentioned by 20 countries. Among the least developed countries the number 
of references to specific issues was again lower on average. 
 
3. The availability of awareness raising and related programmes 
 
a. Are there any programmes/policies within schools/educational 
establishments/ youth groups/other bodies, to promote the safe and 
responsible use of the Internet to children and young people? 
 
Only 34 countries confirmed that such programmes exist (66%), with developed and 
developing countries having broadly similar levels of coverage, and the least 
developed countries having the lowest levels. Half of the Least Developed Countries 
either said there was nothing or they did not know of anything. 
 
Again a number of respondents provided information on links to web sites which 
contained information on the type of programmes that were available. 

b. Are there any programmes for parents to help them understand the online 
safety issues facing their children?  

27 countries answered in the affirmative, a little over half. This is clearly an area that needs 
attention. Only two out of the 10 least developed countries said such resources existed 
within their countries. In the developed countries all bar one said that such programmes 
existed. 

c. Are there any programmes for teachers or others who work with 
children and young people to help them understand and deal with the 
online safety issues facing their students? 
 
Only 24 out of 51 countries confirmed that such programmes existed, or less than 
half. Only one of the least developed countries answered in the affirmative. This 
again is an area that needs attention, particularly as the internet starts to become 
more and more integrated into the educational systems of the world. 
 
d. Are there any programmes provided by other agencies, outside of the 
schools or educational system, which aim to help children and young 
people or their parents to understand and deal with online safety 
issues? 
 
Out of 51, 27 countries said yes, 14 said no, and the remainder did not know or did 
not answer. 
 
 
e. Are there any future planned programme/policy initiatives on Internet 
safety for children and young people 
 
35 countries indicated that they knew of planned future programmes, four 
developing countries said there were no plans of this kind. 
 
Many of the countries responding to these question also provided further 
information about the nature of some of the training or awareness initiative that 
were being planned and the agencies providing the training.  Most of the initiatives 
referred to seemed to be tackling a broad range of online child safety issues, whereas 
others appeared to be focusing on particular or narrow if important aspects e.g. 
around child abuse images.  
 
4. National Focal Point 
 
a. Do you have a national focal point or agency with a specific 
responsibility for promoting safety on the Internet for children and 
young people? 
 
Fewer than half (23) said they had such an agency. 22 countries said no such agency 
existed and the remainder did not answer or did not know. 
 
It would be wrong to be overly prescriptive about this or indeed any other aspect of 
policy or practice. Every country must find its own way to do these things, but 
without a recognised point to drive these initiatives along it is all too easy for them to 
become lost or to slip down the list of priorities in amongst all the other pressures 
which crowd in on governments. 
 
From the answers received it is clear that some countries decided to establish 
entirely new agencies to focus specifically on online child safety issues whereas 
others, the majority, have handed the task over to established Ministries or agencies 
to incorporate into their existing activities in one way or another. 
 
 
 
 5. The legal framework and law enforcement resources 
 
a. In principle, and in so far as it is relevant, is it the case that all the laws 
in your country concerning the protection of children and young 
people which apply in the real world also apply equally to similar 
behaviours or actions on the Internet? 
 
Out of 51, 33 countries said their laws were married up as between cyberspace and 
the real world. eleven countries said “No”, meaning there were differences between 
the laws applied in the real world and laws applied in comparable situations in the 
online world. All these were developing countries category. The remainder, seven, 
did not know. 
 
b. Is the possession of child pornography/child abuse images) an offence in 
your country?  

In the great majority of countries – 45 ‐ the answer was yes. Only one said no and one did 
not know. The remainder – 4 ‐ said possession was illegal only if it was linked to an intention 
to distribute.   

c. Are there any programmes for law enforcement agencies to help law 
enforcement officers understand and deal with online safety issues 
facing children and young people? 
 
20 countries said yes (39%), 18 (35%) said no. The remainder did not know or did not 
answer. 
 
Two out of the nine developed countries said no and two respondents from 
developed countries said they did not know if such courses existed. In the developing 
countries 12 said yes and 12 said no (the remainder said they did not know or they 
did not answer). In the least developed countries two said yes, four said no and four 
did not know. 
 
This is an area of considerable importance yet even within the developed countries 
only a little over half appeared to have programmes in place which would help police 
officers and other law enforcement officials to understand how children and young 
people were interfacing with the new technologies. 
 
d. Does your country have law enforcement officers who have been 
trained to retrieve and analyze digital data taken from computers and 
the Internet? 
 
Only 32 countries answered in the affirmative, including all of the developed 
countries. 15 least developed and developing countries said no, and four countries 
did not know: this was made up of 1 least developed country and 3 developing 
countries. 
 
 e.  Are the forensic resources available to law enforcement in your 
country sufficient to meet the volume of Internet‐related crimes 
against children they are required to investigate? 
 
Out of 51, only 17 countries answered in the affirmative, 22 said no and the 
remainder did not know. Only two countries from the developed world answered 
“yes” to this question. This suggests that even within the developed world police 
forces are having difficulty coping with the enormous demand for forensic facilities 
which the growth in cyber crime has generated. 
 
6. Perceptions of the level of Co‐operation with the Internet industry 
 

a. Does your country have a hotline or other specific mechanism for reporting 
suspected illegal content on the Internet?  

Out of 51, 25 countries said that they did. 18 said no and the remainder did not know 
whether or not a hotline existed. 

In any comprehensive strategy to combat threats to children and young people on the 
internet it is essential that a mechanism exists which allows members of the public to report 
what they believe is illegal material in order that it can be investigated. Typically such 
mechanisms are called “hotlines” or “cybertip lines”. If the material is confirmed as being 
illegal, the hotline receiving the report must be able to initiate appropriate steps to ensure 
that it is taken down or access to it is denied. If the material is housed outside of its 
jurisdiction a means must exist to pass on the information to the relevant agency in the 
appropriate jurisdiction. 

There is a global association of hotlines which facilitates such processes, INHOPE4, and law 
enforcement agencies work co‐operatively on this issue through Interpol and other police 
based mechanisms.  

From the answers received to the ITU questionnaire, and from a brief examination of 
INHOPE’s members, it is clear that a variety of different approaches have been developed to 
establish hotlines or reporting mechanisms. Some of the hotlines are fully integrated into 
parts of governmental machinery, others are run by child protection agencies, yet others are 
run or funded by organizations which are associated with the internet and hi tech industries. 

Hotlines need to exist to cover every recognised linguistic group thus whilst, strictly‐
speaking it would not be necessary to have a hotline in every individual country there will 
always be a clear need for a local hotline to be fully supported by and aligned with all of the 
relevant law enforcement agencies within the jurisdiction. 

                                                            
4
 See www.inhope.org  
 b.  Does your country have a hotline or other specific mechanism for 
reporting suspected illegal behaviour found or taking place on the 
Internet? 
 
Out of 51, 23 countries said yes, 19 said no and the remainder did not know or did 
not answer. 
 
Reporting suspected illegal behaviour is different in nature from reporting suspected 
illegal content. Where suspected illegal behaviour is concerned a person could be in 
danger of imminent personal attack. Speed of response will be critical. 
 
A comprehensive strategy to combat such threats to children and young people on the 
internet will need a range of reporting mechanisms to enable specific reports to be 
made to the agency best placed to deal with them or respond.  
 
In many instances the web site owner or service provider will be the most 
appropriate and ought to be the first port of call but where there is a suspicion that a 
child is being groomed by a sexual predator, or it seems that other forms of serious 
criminal behaviour might be in train, it is essential that there is also a means available 
for a child or other person to make rapid and easy contact with the relevant part of 
law enforcement.  
 
From the responses received it is evident that many countries do not yet have such 
procedures in place, however among those that do a variety of mechanisms have 
emerged, doubtless influenced by local laws and local circumstances. 
 
c.  Do the main players in the Internet industry co‐operate with your 
government and other relevant agencies in promoting the safe and 
appropriate use of the Internet by children and young people? 
 
32 respondents believed this kind of co‐operation did exist, whereas 9 thought it did 
not and the remainder did not know or did not answer. 
 
In a number of countries Government policy is very much geared towards promoting the 
notion of multi stakeholder partnerships as a means of encouraging the internet industry to 
move forward on child safety policies on the basis of self regulation, rather than more 
conventional or traditional forms of law making.  
 
The partners in any self regulatory multi stakeholder regime are likely to include:  
 
the different relevant parts of government, particularly those concerned with education 
and promoting children’s and young people’s health and education 
 
the different and relevant parts of law enforcement 
 
the child welfare and child protection agencies and organizations 
 
the key elements of the hi tech industries.  
 
 These would include: 
 
representatives of the major social networking sites active in the country 
representatives of other major online service providers if they have a substantial 
presence in the youth market 
mobile phone networks 
hardware manufacturers 
online games industry  
major software houses active in the national market. 
 
 
 
7. What help do you think is needed in your country? 
 
In some ways this was the single most important question in the whole questionnaire. It 
asked what help different countries thought they needed to make the internet a safer place 
for children and young people. 
 
Preparing or updating a national child protection strategy for the Internet : 32
Drafting model legislation to modernise or update local laws : 24
Preparing education and awareness materials for children and young people : 30
Preparing education and awareness materials for parents : 31
Preparing education and awareness materials for the general public : 29
Preparing education and awareness materials for the local Internet industry :27
Preparing training courses for teachers and others : 31
Preparing materials for use within schools by appropriately trained teachers : 30
Preparing training courses for law enforcement officers : 31
The provision of additional forensic capabilities : 26
Preparing education and awareness materials for key policy makers and decision makers : 29
Preparing education and awareness materials for journalists and key media : 28
 
The calls for assistance came very strongly from the least developed and the developing 
countries, and came less strongly from the developed countries but the simple truth is that 
countries across all three categories all felt that they needed help in one way or another. 
 
Some respondents spoke about the need to obtain help ‘Convincing policy/decision 
makers to establish a formal National Focal point”. Others said they needed help with 
‘Rehabilitating victims of cybercrimes’ and help to develop preventative measures.  
‘Better international efforts to develop self‐regulatory global framework’, training 
courses for law enforcement officers’, was referred to and another country wanted 
help with research into what was happening locally online to children and young 
people. Yet another country wanted help training parents so they would be better 
placed to help children 
 
Though no two countries asked for the same kind of help, the help they were all asking for 
relates to one or other of the components of policy advanced in the COP guidance 
documents. This underlines once again the usefulness of the framework of policy outlined in 
those documents. 
 
Advancing those documents, linked to the answers to this last question give the ITU a clear 
steer for some of the future activities of the COP initiative. 
Appendix I 
 
List of countries that replied to the questionnaire –  
Afghanistan, Andorra, Angola, Bahrain, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech 
Rep., Colombia, Cape Verde, Denmark, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, Grenada, Iran 
(Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Israel, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, 
Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, Norway,  Philippines, Poland, 
Portugal, Qatar, Rwanda (Republic of), South Africa, Samoa, Seychelles, Slovak Republic, 
Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, 
Zambia  
 
Appendix II 
 
A copy of the questionnaire – 
 
 
CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION (COP) INITIATIVE - NATIONAL SURVEY 2009

Note: all information provided throughout this survey should describe the situation on
the date the form is completed. Future policy initiatives should be listed under
Question 9. Answer will not be distributed outside ITU.

Country:
________________________________________
Person(s) who completed this survey:

Organization:
Name:
Position:
Address:
City:
Tel:
Fax:
Email:

________________________________
The problems

1. What are the main problems facing children and young people in your
country in relation to the Internet: [Please tick as many as apply]

Exposure to illegal content

Exposure to other forms of harmful/inappropriate content
Exposure to bullying or harassment
Exposure to sexual predators
Exposure to travelling sex offenders (sex tourism)
Exposure to fraud and/or financial scams
Exposure to identity theft
Over-use or "addiction" to the technology
Exposure to Internet related crime such as virus attacks/hacking
Exposure to age-inappropriate commmercial activity
There are no problems. Everything seems to be fine
Don’t Know
Other

If other, please specify:

___________________
Available advice or guidelines

2. Have any of the following agencies, or their equivalents within your country,
published any advice or guidelines on the safe or appropriate use of the
Internet by children and young people? [Tick as many as apply]

Ministry of Education
Ministry of Communications
Ministry of Trade or Business Affairs
The Telecoms Regulator
Internet Service Providers or other providers
Mobile phone network operators
Law enforcement agencies
NGOs or civil society organizations
Ministry of Health or Social Services
To my knowledge, no advice or guidance has been published in my country
Don’t know
Other

If other, please specify:

3. Where has this advice or guidance been published? [Please tick as many as
apply]

On TV or radio, or other public media

On the Internet (please provide links)
In printed form (e.g. booklets/leaflets/posters/brochures)
To my knowledge, nothing has been published in my country

If on internet, please provide links:

4. What areas are covered by the advice or guidance? [Please tick as many as
apply]

Exposure to harmful/inappropriate content

Exposure to bullying or harassment
Exposure to sexual predators
Exposure to travelling sex offenders (sex tourism )
Exposure to fraud or to age-inappropriate commercial activity
Over-use of or "addiction" to the technology
How to report concerns or incidents
Exposure to other forms of harmful/inappropriate content
 Exposure to illegal content
To my knowledge, no advice or guidance has been issued
Other

If other, please specify:

________________________________________
Available awareness and training programmes

5. Are there any programmes/policies within schools/educational

establishments/youth groups/ other bodies, to promote the safe and
responsible use of the Internet to children and young people?

Yes
No
Don't know

If yes, please list them below, with the following information:

- Name of Child Safety Initiative:
- Name of Organization:
- Dates: From
- Name of contact person(s):
- Email of contact person(s):

6. Are there any programmes for parents to help them understand the online
safety issues facing their children?

Yes
No
Don't know

If yes, please list them below, with the following information:

- Name of Child Safety Initiative:
- Name of Organization:
- Dates: From
- Name of contact person(s):
- Email of contact person(s):

7. Are there any programmes for teachers or others who work with children and
young people to help them understand and deal with the online safety issues
facing their students?
 Yes
No
Don't know

If yes, please list them below, with the following information:

- Name of Child Safety Initiative
- Name of Organization
- Dates: From
- Name of contact person(s)
- Email of contact person(s)

8. Are there any programmes provided by other agencies, outside of the

schools or educational system, which aim to help children and young people or
their parents to understand and deal with online safety issues?

Yes
No
Don't know

If yes, please list them below, with the following information:

- Name of Child Safety Initiative
- Name of Organization
- Dates: From
- Name of contact person(s)
- Email of contact person(s)

9. Are there any future planned programme/policy initiatives on Internet safety

for children and young people?

Yes
No
Don't know

If yes, please list them below, with the following information:

- Name of Child Safety Initiative
- Name of Organization
- Dates: From
- Name of contact person(s)
- Email of contact person(s)
________________________________________
Legal Framework

10. In principle, and in so far as it is relevant, is it the case that all the laws in
your country concerning the protection of children and young people which
apply in the real world also apply equally to similar behaviours or actions on
the Internet?

Yes
No
Don't know

11. Is the possession of child pornography/child abuse images) an offence in

your country?

Yes
No
Don't know
Only if it is linked to intention to distribute

________________________________________
Law enforcement

14. Are there any programmes for law enforcement agencies to help law
enforcement officers understand and deal with online safety issues facing
children and young people?

Yes
No
Don't know

15. Does your country have law enforcement officers who have been trained to
retrieve and analyze digital data taken from computers and the Internet?

Yes
No
Don't know

16. Are the forensic resources available to law enforcement in your country
sufficient to meet the volume of Internet-related crimes against children they
are required to investigate?
 Yes
No
Don't know

________________________________________
National Focal Point

12. Do you have a national focal point or agency with a specific responsibility
for promoting safety on the Internet for children and young people?

Yes
No
Don't know

13. If you answered “yes” to question 12, please identify this agency along with
an appropriate contact if you have one.

Agency:

Name of Contact Focal Point:

Email of Contact Focal Point:

________________________________________
Co-operation with the Internet industry

17. Does your country have a hotline or other specific mechanism for reporting
suspected illegal content on the Internet?

Yes
No
Don't know

If yes, please provide details below

18. Does your country have a hotline or other specific mechanism for reporting
suspected illegal behaviour found or taking place on the Internet?

Yes
No
Don't know

If yes, please provide details below

19. Do the main players in the Internet industry co-operate with your
government and other relevant agencies in promoting the safe and appropriate
use of the Internet by children and young people?

Yes
No
Don't know

If yes, please provide details below

________________________________________
Request for assistance

20. Does your country require assistance in any of the following areas: [Please
tick as many as apply]

Preparing or updating a national child protection strategy for the Internet

Drafting model legislation to modernise or update local laws
Preparing education and awareness materials for children and young people
Preparing education and awareness materials for parents
Preparing education and awareness materials for the general public
Preparing education and awareness materials for the local Internet industry
Preparing training courses for teachers and others who work with children and
young people
Preparing materials for use within schools by appropriately trained teachers
Preparing training courses for law enforcement officers
The provision of additional forensic capabilities to analyze data obtained from
computers or the Internet
Preparing education and awareness materials for key policy makers and decision
makers
 Preparing education and awareness materials for journalists and key elements
within the media
Any other areas

If other, please specify

21. Are there any other initiatives in your country or specific child online safety
concerns that you would like to bring to ITU’s attention?

_________________________________________________
Additional Questionnaire for children using the internet

1. If you have a child, is your child a

male
female

2. How old is he/she?

1-4 years old

5-9 years old
10-14 years old
15-19 years old

3. How often does he/she use the internet?

at least once a day

at least once a week but not every day
less than once a week

4. Where does he/she use the internet?

Home
Work
Place of education
Another person’s home
Community Internet access facility
Commercial Internet access facility
Any place via a mobile cellular telephone
Any place via other mobile access devices
 Other

If other, please specify:

5. In the last 12 month, for which activities does he/she use the internet?
(Please tick as many as apply)

Getting information about goods or services

Getting information related to health or health services
Getting information from general government organizations
Interacting with general government organizations
Sending or receiving e-mail
Telephoning over the Internet/VoIP
Posting information or instant messaging (chatting)
Purchasing or ordering goods or services
Internet banking
Education or learning activities
Playing or downloading video games or computer games
Downloading movies, images, music, watching TV or video, or listening to radio or
music
Other

If other, please specify:

 
 
Appendix III 
 
Statistical background to the results of the survey 
 
The UN classifies countries according to three broad yardsticks: Developed, 
Developing and Least Developed. For further information on the basis of these 
categories are compiled and defined please see (Aeree can you insert?) 
 
The overall population and the number of countries in each of these categories and 
the number of responses to the questionnaire received from the countries in each 
category are as follows: 
 
 
  Developed  Developing Least Totals 
  Countries  Countries  Developed   
      Countries   
No. of         
       
countries 
       
in each 
       
category  30  112  49  191 
Total         
population  914,780,948  5,058,234,621  834,857,827  6,807,873,396 
by         
category5         
13.4%  74.3%  12.3%  100% 
Responses      
received  10  31  10  51 
         
         
% of total  33%  28%  20%  27% 
responses 
received 
within the 
group 
Population                       
covered by  437,878,018  927,402,404  326,844,873   1,692,125,295 
responses         
received         
         
% of total  48%  18%  39%  25% 
population   
of group 
 
The data shown above are presented to provide an insight into the general 
representativeness of the survey results in terms of the ITU’s wider membership.  
 
It is clear that, measured by the percentage of their population covered, by the 
response rate and by their relative share of the ITU’s total membership, the 
Developed countries are over represented in the replies received, as compared with 

                                                            
5
 http://unstats.un.org 
the other two groups. However, the numbers of countries replying, while important, 
is in some ways less significant than the population base which they represent. For 
example if only two additional countries had replied to the questionnaire e.g. India 
and China, some of the figures shown in the table would have looked very different. 
Thus one ought not to read too much into that aspect of the analysis or the returns 
on which they are based. 
 
Much more striking, as noted in the body of the report, is that the answers given by 
the respondents were clustered in such a way as to suggest one’s membership of any 
particular category was not a very strong indicator of that country’s perceptions or 
views about what needed to be done to make the online world safer for children and 
young people. Whilst the countries in the developed category were slightly less likely 
to give certain answers than countries in the other two categories, the fact was that 
across all three developmental categories most countries saw things in broadly the 
same way and across all three categories most countries said they needed similar 
kinds of help and assistance.  
 
Quality Control 
 
In administering this questionnaire the ITU communicated with and through 
individuals within the agencies the ITU normally works with, namely Ministries or 
other agencies with responsibility for telecommunications or internet policy. These 
individuals may not, hitherto, have had any substantial engagement with online child 
safety issues within their country. If they were uncertain about how to reply to any of 
the questions, respondents were encouraged to discuss the issues with colleagues in 
relevant agencies that were concerned with children’s and young people’s safe use of 
the internet but the ITU, of course, has no means to quality control or test the quality 
of the answers given in that respect. As further iterations of the questionnaire are 
issued more attention will be given to this aspect.