Criminal protection of children's emotional and social mental health in cyberspace

Background and purpose: Increasing development of virtual space and the ease of access for users has caused information are rapidly and widely exchanged between people in the society. In recent years, this issue has become more important for reasons such as the Corona epidemic and the need to develop onlineeducational activities and paying attention to children's entertainment. Children are more exposed to the harmful effects of using cyberspace than other age groups. The purpose of this research is to adopt a suitable solution to protect children's emotional and social mental health in the virtual space and it has been tried to answer these questions: in what way does the virtual space harm children's social and emotional mental health and how do we maintain Victimized children's social and emotional mental health ?Method: The present research method is descriptive-analytical.Ethical considerations: Honesty and trustworthiness have been observed in all stages of research.Findings: Children suffer the most damage in cyberspace due to their inexperience and defenselessness in the field of cyber-attacks. They are exposed to serious risks and abuse by profiteers either by self-judgment and isolation from society or by publishing personal data by themselves or their parents. Therefore, international and domestic documents have specially paid attention to the children's natural right.Conclusion: Children as the most vulnerable sections of the society, are more exposed to the destructive effects of cyberspace due to their young age. Easy and uncontrolled access to the virtual space, regardless of the necessary legal, cultural and social infrastructure, as well as the lack of appropriateness of this space with the children’s specific psychological conditions has created many problems. In Iran's legal system, although measures have been taken to protect children's mental health and support them in cyberspace, they have not been implemented as they should. Therefore, for the safe presence of children in this space, appropriatepolicy making is necessary, and in addition, children's rights must be protected and supported by governments and other guardians active in the field of children's affairs. Of course, parents, family and teachers' effective role should not been ignored.

کلیدواژه ها:

Criminal protection ، Cyber-attacks ، children's mental health