Topic: 2025 – Protecting and Empowering Youth in Digital Spaces
Country: Sierra Leone
Delegate Name: Gavin Dakhi
The digital age has been in full swing for many years; the gift of innovative technology is nothing new. Social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have in recent years been pushed to the foreground of the internet and become the machine that drives our modern cyberspace. Sierra Leone is not currently recognized as a major powerhouse in technology, but the country is striving to become recognized in this field. With recent developments across the nation including the launch of the first West African 5G accessible network and internet service providing more of the country with accessible and fast connection. These recent developments put Sierra Leone on the map and with new innovations being discussed and implemented, technological excellence is no longer unimaginable. Sierra Leone has also started development for 100% nationwide electrification by 2040. Working toward sustainable, clean, and vibrant digital spaces alongside energy plans that power them, Sierra Leone is making the changes and building the structure to stand out as a technologically driven country.
While constant innovation is always accepted, it is often imperative that we rework and resolve current problems. Seemingly everywhere countries and communities are faced with the same issue when concerning social media. How do we protect our youth? This question is not only one of the most important questions to be asking, but also a question Sierra Leone is asking, and working to solve. When teens and young adults are inducted into these cyberspaces they are flooded with information, more than any youth in history has ever been bombarded with. This double-edged sword of information is helping and hurting our younger generation. The impacts of seeing constant examples of unrealistic life, misinformation, and unhealthy habits so often are the sharpest sides of this sword. Sierra Leone is faced with challenges when it comes to navigating this environment as when new shiny policies are implemented sometimes small, unchecked problems like teens mental health fall below the horizon. Policies are being implemented are currently working to regulate these problems. Sierra Leone has focus on building a teacher’s community with education in digital spaces to help teens navigate this cyberspace and ensure a safe environment for mental health. The “Cyber Security Crime Act” is a term generalizing the laws criminalizing cybercrimes, this law regulated cybersecurity. Sierra Leone is working to finalize a Data Protection Law to strengthen data privacy, building on existing efforts with aims to align with international best practices and global standards. Plans are being put into place, and the cogs of this well-oiled machine will continue to turn until the issues of national and global concerns regarding cyberspace are regulated.
Sources:
Council of Europe. “Sierra Leone – Octopus Cybercrime Community.” Octopus Project, www.coe.int/en/web/octopus/-/sierra-leone.
EIT Climate-KIC. “Call to Join Sierra Leone’s Adaptation Innovation Cluster: Driving Climate Solutions in the Water, Energy, and Food Sectors.” Climate-KIC, www.climate kic.org/open-call/call-to-join-sierra-leones-adaptation-innovation-cluster-driving-climate solutions-in-the-water-energy-and-food-sectors/.
World Health Organization. “Sierra Leone: Health Data Overview.” WHO Data, data.who.int/countries/694.
