There have been some terrible reports of children who have taken their lives as a result of cyber-bullying, others who have trusted online stalkers and many who just get themselves into trouble because they were not being smart on-line, and many parents have no idea how to monitor and help.
In 2009, when a mother noticed that while her six-year old son was playing computer games an inappropriate advertisement appeared on the screen the Keeping Children Safe Online (KCSO) Project was born.
I have the privilege of managing this regional project which is being implemented in 4 countries, (Armenia, Georgia, Lebanon and Palestine). KCSO has been a very successful 3 year pilot that has introduced some very basic, but surprisingly simple safety tips and protocols for parents and children. It’s mission is to help make the online world safer for children, while providing youth and children with skills to protect themselves and others from online abuse and sexual exploitation. It is a two-tier initiative which focuses both on good practices, guidelines and tools for children and their caregivers around online safety as well as creating a complaint mechanism to provide a forum to raise concerns around incidents of child pornography, racism, trafficking, fraud and consumer protection.
Assessments carried out in Jerusalem-West Bank-Gaza, reported that while 83% of children use the Internet and more than 60% of homes have access to the Internet, only 1% of children and 4.5% of parents are aware of the risks of using the Internet and social media.
Through KCSO children are being trained on how to stay safe online and in turn, how to train others. The training targets children from 7 to 12 and 13 to 18 years old. In addition, the training aims to provide caregivers with tips on how to keep their children and students safe online. Training sessions on the Internet and its evolution are also provided to adults who are Internet-illiterate to encourage them to go online.
SAFER INTERNET DAY – FEBRUARY 5, 2013
For the upcoming Safer Internet Day (SID), our team is planning a variety of activities with the aim of promoting and raising the profile of the project and the importance of staying safe online on a national level. These activities will include sending informative text messages and holding a talk show with cyber police. Press releases, newspaper advertisements on online rights and responsibilities as well as news articles will be shared. In addition, Facebook page advertisement banners, a project website, SID posters and a video with children talking about their online rights and responsibilities are planned.
"Children of today are very dependent on the Internet; they find it everywhere,” says our project coordinator “We shouldn't try to ban them from using the Internet. Instead we should encourage channels of communication for them to trust us and come to us when they face online problems."
With the use of advanced technology and smart devices, use of mobile technology has expanded from 90% in April 2009 to 240% in April 2010 and with it, online risks.
A staff member at the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs explains, "I try to have my use of Internet to be something useful, but we do also use other networks like Facebook and social media. You do sometimes enter a different world and controlling this world is difficult. Without a doubt, the use of Internet is growing every day, and our protection while using it has to grow. Having resources to protect children online is very important, but I think that it is vital for parents, who spend the most time with their children, to know how to monitor their children’s use of the Internet and how to discover what the children are using the Internet for.”
