ILLEGAL EXPOSURE: Parents can be jailed for humiliating children on facebook
Chairperson of Botswana Child Rights Network Kitso Motshwari says it is very wrong for any parent or guardian to go on social media and humiliate their own children.
As care givers, guardians are expected to protect and guard against their children being abused. But when it is the same guardians who throw their own to the wolves, it becomes unfortunate. Motshwari said this when reacting to the tendency of some families who go on social media asking that they be assisted in finding their missing children.
The families then go on to explain that they have had it with the child, calling them useless, that they love chasing after men and hardly sleep at home.
“That is humiliating the child. If your child is missing, there is no wrong in asking for help but details of them being big headed and chasing after men is unnecessary.” “Those who do that are humiliating their children and will face the full wrath of the law,” said Motshwari. However, it seems that some parents mostly get away with it, all because children hardly report their own parents. But it does not mean that if any caring citizen takes it up with relevant authorities they will not be helped. A probe into police files suggests that indeed such cases are rare in Botswana even though Facebook is mostly awash with such disturbing posts - some even bearing pictures of the child leading to them being brutalised by Facebook users. Perhaps what goes into the mind of some parents is that they are the custodians and the buck stops with them. However, being a care giver does not give one the right to expose children to humiliation. Alternative ways of dealing with a misbehaving child includes speaking to social workers or senior members of the family. Should one be found guilty of such abuse, they are likely to be charged with section 16 and 18 of the Cyber-crime and Computer Related Crimes Act of 2018. The Act speaks to Cyber Harassment and Offensive Electronic Communication. If found guilty of both, one is likely to be slapped with a P30 000 charge or imprisonment.