Internet Watch Foundation welcomes children’s online safety campaign

The UK organisation focused on tackling child sex abuse – the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre - has launched a “have fun, stay in control, know how to report” education campaign going into schools, foster homes and other youth environments across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The programme – called ThinkuKnow – will focus on online safety and is the first campaign designed by police, child protection specialists, industry and children themselves and also introduces a dedicated online reporting mechanism. Children of all ages are a few clicks away from being able to can report inappropriate online contact at www.thinkuknow.net.

Sarah Robertson, Head of Communications, Internet Watch Foundation, said:

“CEOP’s education and training work empowering Britain’s children and young adults to keep themselves safe online is a vital campaign providing the knowledge, confidence and mechanism to help stop offenders targeting vulnerable internet users.

“Child abuse online remains one of society’s most serious challenges and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) looks forward to continuing strong links with CEOP as we tackle it together – IWF taking reports on illegal websites and having the content taken down, and CEOP investigating the offenders and working to protect the children themselves.”

The programme will be delivered in schools by over 1000 police officers, teachers and child protection teams and will offer an interactive package that will explore online experiences, look at issues such as social networking, gaming sites and more traditional chat rooms and offer vital “safety first” advice to children, young people and their parents.

Home Office Minister, Vernon Coaker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Policing, Security and Community Safety who helped launch the campaign, said: “The Government is determined to do everything it can to protect children from the predatory paedophiles, including those that use the internet and other communication technologies.

“The UK leads the world in tackling the menace posed by paedophiles with new laws and tough jail sentences of up to 10 years for offenders grooming children for sex over the internet. We have further strengthened prison sentences for those caught producing or in possession of child abuse images.”

ENDS

Notes

The education programme – ThinkuKnow – is being rolled out to schools, foster homes, youth clubs and other environments on a region-by-region basis and will initially be focused on engagement with 1 million children across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The package will include both online and offline resources and all children are being encouraged to visit www.thinkuknow.net with their parents where they will find safety first advice as well as the online reporting mechanism.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre is a law enforcement agency and works in both online and offline environments. Full information on all areas of work as well as online safety messages and access to online reporting can be found at www.ceop.gov.uk or for children at www.thinkuknow.net.

For further information including interview requests:

Clive Michel
Head of Communications and Public Affairs
Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
0870 000 3434

Created: Thu, September 21st, 2006 | Last Modified: Wed, February 21st, 2007

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Internet Watch Foundation welcomes children’s online safety campaign