Pledges to protect children ‘don’t go far enough’
Measures outlined by the secular parties to tackle the premature sexualisation of children don't recognise the gravity of the problem, according to Christian Democratic candidates planning to contest coming General and local elections.
Speaking to party supporters over the weekend in Newham, the Christian Peoples Alliance leader, Cllr Alan Craig, said that Britain should adopt and extend policies on sexual imagery being introduced by Australia's Labour government. These require mandatory Internet Service Provider (ISP) level filtering of Refused Classification(RC)-rated internet content, including material sourced overseas.
The Christian Peoples Alliance forms the opposition on Newham Council and represents one of the most deprived parts of the capital.
According to Cllr Alan Craig, the pledges don't go far enough: "As welcome as David Cameron is to the discussion about the sexualisation of children, both he and Ed Balls have failed to grasp the gravity of the problem, especially as it impacts inner city districts such as Canning
Town. Here children are begetting children.
"The problem is pervasive and complex, linked to issues of social inequality and the disempowerment of young men. The reality is that it is internet imagery, social networking sites and the ubiquity of new generation, internet-enabled mobile phones which are feeding sexual
desire. Adolescents are saturated with media images that suggest it is their right to express themselves in sexual relationships. The social consequences are devastating."
Alan Craig said that instead of 'optional filtering' ,stronger measures are needed to require big internet and phone providers in Britain such at Sky, Virgin Media and British Telecom to mandatory block R18 material sent down broadband into family homes or to mobiles. He is pointing to what the Australian government says is the ability of internet filtering to deal
with the problem.
According to Australia's Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, an Enex Test Laboratory report into the pilot trial of Internet Service Provider (ISP)-level filtering found that blocking RC-rated material "can be done with 100% accuracy and negligible impact on internet speed".
The Christian Peoples Alliance says its stance is backed by interim research into the problem published last August by Beatbullying, who surveyed more than 2,000 secondary school pupils across England. It found that of the 25% who received an offensive sexual image, 55% were issued via mobile phone.