A/HRC/31/34 C. Support for families, teachers and caregivers 56. Openness and accessibility are two of the primary advantages of the Internet, but they also entail some of its greatest risks. ICTs, and the unsupervised online access they facilitate, make children potentially vulnerable to violence, abuse and exploitation in ways that are often difficult for parents, caregivers, teachers and others to detect and address. 57. Often even very young children have a more sophisticated understanding of the Internet and mobile phone technologies than their parents and caregivers do. Many parents, teachers and caregivers are therefore not sufficiently informed about online safety tools or on possible online risks for children. 58. While research is still limited in many countries, studies suggest that where parents and teachers have less training and support in Internet use, children engage in more risky behaviours online.26 Evidence suggests that children are more likely to report unwanted or upsetting contacts or content to parents who themselves understand the Internet or who have been available and open to discussions of Internet use with the child.27 Parents and caregivers themselves must therefore be supported to better understand the online environment, how children and young people operate in it, the type of risks they might encounter, the harm that can potentially ensue and the most effective ways to avoid this harm and to develop resilience among children and young people. 59. Similarly, communities at large need to be aware of the issue of sexual exploitation online and capable of providing a safe environment for children, as well as a proper response to victims. For children to be able to speak out about this issue, it is necessary to break taboos and eliminate harmful cultural or contextual beliefs that allow exploitation or cause people to keep silent about child sexual exploitation. 60. Schools also have a unique potential to promote non-violent behaviour and to support change of attitudes that condone violence. Through quality education, children can gain the skills and abilities to use the Internet with confidence, to avoid and address risks, and to become well-informed, responsible digital citizens. Education includes promoting creative, critical and safe use of the Internet and preventing and responding to incidents of online violence. A precondition for any school-based initiative is for teachers themselves to understand the online environment and to have the ability to identify early signals of abuse, as well as to advise, guide, empower and support children and young people. 28 D. Role of the private sector 61. The private sector, an essential driver for societies and economies, can contribute actively to the promotion of children’s rights, minimizing risks and securing online protection for children. While the Internet is used by everyone, it is privately owned. Governments should work together with such actors as Internet service, hosting and content providers, search engines, payment services, telecommunications companies, manufacturers of ICT, “cloud” computing companies, social media sites and even small businesses, such as Internet cafes. 26 27 28 Sonia Livingstone and Monica E. Bulger, A Global Agenda for Children’s Rights in the Digital Age, September 2013, p. 21. Ibid., p. 20. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Releasing Children’s Potential and Minimizing Risks (see footnote 1), p. 48. 13