2019-12-16 12:24 update: 2019-12-16, 21:00
Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara
Speaking at a meeting of Poland's Family Council on Monday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said it was necessary to protect young people from pornography, in the same way as they are protected from alcohol and drugs.
Addressing the members of the Family Council, a recently established advisory body set up by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Morawiecki said the issue of access to pornography had been highlighted as a cause for concern by many NGOs.
The prime minister reported that it was ever more common for children of 12, 13 and 14 years of age to access pornography and that the trend was growing. In this regard, he pointed to research showing that 60 percent of boys between the ages of 13 and 16, and over 20 percent of girls of the same age group have had contact with pornography.
"This is an activity that certainly disrupts emotional function, disrupts the perception of sexuality, leads to very serious emotional deficiencies and to threats in the future, to mental health threats of today's young people, later adults," the PM said.
"Just as we protect children and young people from alcohol, as we protect them from drugs, so should we also verify access to content, to pornographic material, with all strictness," Morawiecki told the council.
The Family Council is made up of 14 family policy experts, academics, parliamentarians and NGO representatives, whose task is to support, initiate and promote action benefitting traditional families, working out solutions that will improve the demographic situation in Poland. (PAP)
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