Legal Functionality of Child Protection Mechanisms in Virtual Environments: Review and Evaluation

Abstract

Legal Functionality of Child Protection Mechanisms in Virtual Environments: Review and Evaluation Abstract

Childhood is a life process that every individual living in the world goes through. Today, it is accepted that childhood covers the period until the age of eighteen. Individuals are deprived of the ability to meet their personal needs in childhood, and at the same time, they cannot foresee factors that involve risks and dangers for themselves. It is claimed that the achievements and experiences individuals acquire during childhood affect their entire remaining life process. This situation reveals the necessity of protecting children. In historical perspective, the idea that children have a special structure and therefore need to be protected has developed especially in the last two centuries.  As children have come into the interest of international organizations, various international texts have been written for the protection of children and the subject has become a subject of international law.

Today, it is accepted that three units are responsible for the protection of children: the state, society and family. The duty of protecting children, which is basically the responsibility of parents, falls on the state for individuals who have lost their families in any way or for the children of parents who do not fulfill their responsibilities of protection and supervision. Society is considered to be responsible for the protection and protection of children in every aspect of daily life. Individuals at a young age; It needs protection at home, in educational institutions, in social areas and in virtual environments. It is stated that the measures taken to protect children in virtual environments, which are included in every aspect of daily life, especially with the development of technology, are not effective and functional and new protection mechanisms should be developed in this field.