MEP raises suicide and abuse of Internet
21 February 2008
Jim Allister MEP, in the wake of rising levels of suicide among young people, has raised in the European Parliament the need for EU wide action to curb internet sites which promote and facilitate suicide. Speaking during Question Time to the President of the Council, Mr Allister said:-
Jim Allister (NI). – President-in-Office, could I direct you to another matter in terms of the protection of children in the context of media, in particular against the background of rising and alarming suicide rates in Europe, not least in my own constituency? This is, what can the Council do in respect of the gross misuse, in particular via internet services, of readily available advice on how to commit suicide? I today downloaded information from one such site, which gave multiple advice on how to commit suicide.
It is quite appalling. Even if one goes onto Wikipedia one can find information on how to commit suicide. Will the Council address that in the context of child protection, in particular in the context of media?
In response the Minister promised to examine if the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive could be deployed to try and clamp down on the offending websites.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Allister said, "It is not only the task of Governments to do everything possible to deal with these websites - a far from easy task given the worldwide nature of the net - but internet providers and search engines like Google need to play their part. More responsibility is required from them. It is quite appalling that a culture of suicide can be glamorised and promoted on these wicked sites. They need to be blocked and subjected to severe restraint."
