Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the hon. Member for this question. A very topical one indeed. Mauritius has over the recent years experienced a rapid increase in the use of digital technologies and online platforms. While these platforms offer many benefits, they also expose users, especially our children and youth, to significant risks including cyberbullying, harassment, sextortion, scams, exploitation and child pornography. Every single online harm on our children is far too many and it is our duty to protect our children from such ills. This situation today has become unacceptable. In the first four months of this year only, there have been 81 reported cases of online harms caused to our children under the age of 16. In other words, every three days, there have been two children falling victim to online harms. In some cases, cyberbullying incidents have had severe consequences including tragic loss of life among young people. The impact of social media on mental health and well-being of our young people is receiving increasing international attention. In April 2026, the World Health Organisation highlighted that certain patterns of technology and social media use may contribute to risks such as anxiety, depression, sleep disorder, particularly among vulnerable young people. Several countries including Australia have introduced or are considering restrictions on access to social media platforms for children under the age of 16. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to refer to the reply given by my colleague, hon. Dr. Gungapersad, to PQ B/99 on 24 March 2026, in which he stated that his Ministry, with the support of mine, had launched an awareness campaign on cyberbullying. I also refer to my reply PQ B/107 from hon. Ms Savabaddy on 24 March 2026, where I outlined the measures my Ministry took and further intends to take to address the growing concerns about the risks and harmful effects faced by young people on social media. As mentioned in my reply on 24 March, my Ministry, together with the ICTA, has taken steps to reduce children's exposure to harmful and illegal contents on the internet. Accordingly, in December 2025, a Child Online Protection measure which provides easy-to- use parental control solutions was launched by three internet service providers, namely Emtel Ltd., Mauritius Telecom Ltd., and Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) Ltd. On Monday, 11th of May, we launched, together with Mauritius Telecom, Phase 2 of Child Online Protection, which gives further governance powers to parents to remotely administer the mobile phones of their children. This allows a parent to remotely switch off the mobile phone of the child or control which applications will this child have access to and during which time band. This will go a long way in empowering parents to provide additional protection to their children. Further, my Ministry has initiated preliminary consultations with various stakeholders on delaying access to social media for children below the age of 16 for stronger online protection for children. The consultations, along with the experience of Australia, have highlighted several challenges, including the need for reliable technical ecosystem for age verification process, compliance with data protection requirements, cooperation from social media platform owners, and the prevention of the use of virtual private networks to bypass restriction are some of the challenges. Although Mauritius has already established laws such as Data Protection Act, the Information and Communication Technologies Act, the Children's Act, and the Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Act, there is currently no specific provision regarding access to social media platform based on age. In fact, those platforms actually ask the age of the applicant or the user. Below 13, they do not allow access, but children tend to give ages that do not reflect their actual age. Mauritius is therefore likely to face similar implementation challenges as Australia if access to social media platforms were to be delayed for children under a certain age. Discussions are well underway in order to gauge the position and views of relevant stakeholders to understand the benefits and challenges of such an approach in Mauritius. However, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, no final official position has currently been taken. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. The hon. Third Member for Port Louis South and Port Louis Central. INVALIDITY PENSIONS – BENEFICIARIES – REJECTED APPLICATIONS