World Vision Project ACE hosts online safety webinar to celebrate Safer Internet Day

World Vision’s Project Against Child Exploitation promotes online safety during the Safer Internet Day celebration

World Vision Development Foundation through the Project Against Child Exploitation and in collaboration with Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and Civil Society Coalition on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC Coalition), hosted a webinar with the title “Safer Internet Day: Together for a Better Internet” on February 7, 2023 via Zoom and Facebook Live.

Safer Internet Day started as an initiative of the EU Safe Borders Project in 2004 and has become a landmark event among advocates in 180 countries and territories globally. As an international humanitarian organization aiming to protect the most vulnerable Filipino children, World Vision celebrated the annual event to raise awareness on the emerging online issues and concerns.

The webinar convened more than 300 children and youth participants from different parts of the country with the objective of providing them with context on child protection issues in the digital world. It heeds the call towards a better and safer internet space for children, ensuring that children and the youth are aware of the online harms, risks, and dangers found on the internet.

According to CRC Coalition’s Child Situationer Report published in 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the spread of online sexual abuse and exploitation against children where 265% of OSAEC cases were reported from March to May 2020.

Last July 2022, Republic Act No. 11930 lapsed into law providing a stronger protection on children against those who produce, distribute, possess, and access child sexual abuse and exploitation materials (CSAEM). While the passage of the law offers hope for child rights advocates, it still needs a strong implementation to fully stop perpetrators from their grave actions against children.

During her interview with FEBC DZAS as part of the  Safer Internet Day celebration, Project ACE Director Daphne Culanag mentioned that “this year, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Safer Internet Day in the Philippines. We are in partnership with the Department of Information and Communications Technology in ensuring that we provide a safe space for children online. The digital world has many benefits but it can also be a dangerous place for children. There is cyberbullying, identity theft, risks of social networking, and even online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. We call on stakeholders to work together and take action for a better internet space for children.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Marieta Lupig-Alcid from Department of Communications and Information Technology highlighted different online safety tips for children. During her presentation, Ms. Alcid underscored that “Privacy is the best policy. Do not share private information online nor post photos with strangers. Putting your social media accounts on private will protect you from different dangers in the digital world.”

Project ACE works with different government agencies and non-government organizations towards the elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and OSAEC. It is World Vision’s advocacy to strengthen the capacity of the Philippine government to address the worst forms of child labor (WFCL) including online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) and violations of acceptable conditions of work (ACW).

With the support of the United States Department of Labor, World Vision’s Project ACE was launched to strengthen the capacity of the Philippine government to address the Worst Forms of Child Labor (WFCL), including Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC), and Violations of Acceptable Conditions of Work (ACW).

Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL 34007-19-75-K. 100 percent of the total costs of the project in the Philippines is financed with United States Department of Labor funds.

Together, let us be against child exploitation.

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