The “Protection of Children Online” conference was opened today at Hotel Tulip Inn in Belgrade, with the support of UNICEF and the Government of the United Kingdom. The opening address for the conference was by Dr Nebojša Stefanović representing the Ministry of Interior, the British Ambassador to Serbia Dennis Keefe, State Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Tatjana Matić and UNICEF Director for Serbia Michel Saint-Lot.
The goal of the conference was an introduction to the achievements in combatting child abuse and exploitation online, as well as providing recommendations for further steps in the processes significant for improving prevention and digital violence.
Regarding these issues, State Secretary Tatjana Matić said in her introduction that the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications endeavours to dedicate more space to the issue of protecting children online and to establishing greater cooperation, both between competent state institutions, as well as among interested organizations, companies, and the non-government sector.
“In our work, among other issues, we tend towards the achievement of the goals of the European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children, the most important being raising awareness on the need to increase the level of digital literacy and online safety, stimulating the production of creative and educational content for children, a better classification and labelling of content adequate for certain ages, as well as the use of parental control tools”, said the State Secretary.
The line ministry for telecommunications has been working on issues of online child safety since 2009. Matić introduced those present at the conference to the Ministry’s activities, implemented during the last six years in regards to the issue of child safety online, including the initiative “Click Safely”, a large number of workshops and forums on the safe use of internet, participation in the global initiative “Safe Internet Day”, the partnership in the Safer Internet Centre that includes the “Net Patrol” mechanism for reporting illegal and harmful content, the organization of public competitions on the subject of child safety online, and many others.
Matić noted that an important role in creating a better internet for children, in addition to educational institutions and competent state institutions and organizations, is held by telecommunications and internet operators, manufacturers of devices and software, as well as companies running large social networks. “In addition to developing protection mechanisms, it is important to work on improving digital literacy among our children. We need to teach them the relevant skills applicable in the digital age they live in, that would enable them to make full use of the internet safely”, noted Matić.
The conference “Protection of Children Online” is part of the Global Programme for Capacity Building in Combating Sexual Exploitation of Children Online, implemented by the relevant national partners with the support of UNICEF and the Government of the United Kingdom.
