The Ministry of Employment & Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education have jointly condemn the irresponsible act of the individuals who applauded, recorded and shared the video depicting the inappropriate behaviour of young children in what has been said to be a birthday celebration get together.

This video has aroused anger and disgust among the population and has called into question the role, responsibilities and morality of those parents and adults present at the get together, who have the care and supervision of young children either in their homes or at private gatherings, as was the case in this incident.

This video places children at risk of being sexually abused. Parents are reminded that they have the duty of care towards their children and that includes protecting under age children from such sexually suggestive display as shown in the video.

Adults, particularly parents have the responsibility to inculcate good values in their children so they in return emulate the good that they have learnt both at home, at school and wherever they may be in the community.

The Ministry of Employment & Social Affairs has the statutory mandate for child protection. As part of the on-going reform to strengthen the child protection system, the ministry reminds the public that other legislative provision to prohibit exposure of inappropriate images of children through the social media is under consideration and the penalty will be severe.

The ministry and its partners will continue to educate the parents and public to respect the dignity and vulnerability of children and do their civic duty in reporting any action that is detrimental to the well-being of children while at the same time avoiding public circulation of pictures or videos containing inappropriate behaviours.

Both ministries along with the police have taken concrete steps in identifying the adults and children from the video and are undertaking an investigation into the matter, and will pursue any legal action if any offences have been committed in the making, filming and distributing this video among other things.