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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have sat down with CBS’s Sunday Morning program to talk about their online safety campaign.
In a new conversation with host Jane Pauley, the couple shared their desire to protect their young children, five-year-old Prince Archie and three-year-old Princess Lilibet, from online harm.
“Our kids are young — they’re 3 and 5. They’re amazing,” Markle shared. “But all you want to do as parents is protect them.”
“So as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there, and we’re just happy to be able to be a part of change for good,”
When host, Pauley said, “You hope that when your children ask for help, someone, you know, is there to give it,” Prince Harry pointed out that parent’s have to “know how to help.”
“At this point, we’ve got to the stage where every parent needs to be a first responder,” Harry continued. “And even the best first responders in the world wouldn’t be able to tell the signs of possible suicide. That is the terrifying piece of this.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Foundation is advocating for a safer online world—especially for children.
In February, the couple shared their support for the outcome of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on online safety for children, when they shared the following statement:
“We applaud the bravery and determination of the thousands of parents around the country whose advocacy resulted in this hearing. Over the past few years, we have spent time with many of these families, listening to their heartache and their hopes for the urgent change that is needed in the online space.
“This is an issue that transcends division and party lines, as we saw today at the Senate hearing. The best parenting in the world cannot keep children safe from these platforms. As one of the fathers shared with us: ‘If love could have saved them, all of our children would still be here.’ This is not the time to pass the buck of responsibility. It’s the time to make necessary change at the source to keep our children safe.”
The couple will be travelling to Colombia for the World Ministerial Conference on the Elimination of Violence Against Children in November.
“The conference will present a global framework for creating safer physical and virtual spaces, addressing issues such as cyberbullying, online exploitation and the impact of these threats on mental health. It will offer practical solutions and commitments for countries around the world. During their visit, the Duke and Duchess, as well as the Archewell Foundation, will take part in a number of activities related to this important topic,” Colombia’s vice president, Francia Márquez has said in a statement.
Online bullying is clearly a topic close to Markle’s heart, having spoken about being the target of online abuse before.
At the the SXSW Conference in Texas, Markle said that there’s a lot of work to be done to keep people safe, and that she finds it “disturbing” how “much of the hate is women completely spewing it to other women.”
The CBS interview will air on August 4—Meghan Markle’s 43rd birthday.
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