Online porn Photo: ( RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King)
The Fiji Cabinet has approved an anti-pornography taskforce, co-chaired by the Trade and Communications Minister Manoa Kamikamica and the Women's and Children's Minister Lynda Tabuya, to hold consultations and address the root causes of the use and consumption of pornography.
The multi-stakeholder taskforce will include three members from both sides of the Parliament and have government ministries and agencies such as the Fiji Police, Online Safety Commission, as well as civil society, telecommunications and ICT regulatory bodies and service providers.
In November last year, Kamikamica told Parliament that data traffic provided by one of the main internet service providers in the country revealed Fiji ranked in the top 10 countries of the provider's network for internet traffic to porn websites.
He said Fijians used over 600 terabytes of data watching porn last quarter.
He said at the time that "effectively tackling these social ills" needed "concerted effort and multi-stakeholder engagement".
"The Taskforce may co-opt additional stakeholders as needed, based on specific expertise and subcommittees can be formed to focus on specific areas, with leads from the Taskforce," a post-Cabinet meeting statement said.
The terms of reference for the taskforce has four priority areas, including better understanding the root causes in the prevalence of pornography use and illegal content; exploring the potential relationship between compulsive use of pornography, undertaking multi-stakeholder and nationwide consultations; and propose recommendations.
"The Taskforce will work towards developing evidence-based policies, interventions, and educational programs to promote healthy attitudes towards sexuality, mental and emotional well-being, and societal norms," the Cabinet statement said.
