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assisting in the realization of civil and social rights
Child Safety on the Internet: How to prevent sexualized harassment
18.05.2023
The problems of harassment (or sexualized harassment) are extremely common in modern society. And with the advent of the Internet, attackers have even more opportunities to commit crimes against sexual integrity or sexual freedom.
Despite all the undeniable advantages of the Internet, it has made it easier for criminals to reach children, as even elementary school students are starting to set up accounts on all social networks. We talk about how to help a child surf the Internet safely and avoid interactions with intruders.
It all starts with the family, so it's very important for parents to establish a trusting relationship with their child. The main thing is not to go to extremes: do not overprotect the child or, on the contrary, create an atmosphere of permissiveness.
Be a pillar of support for your children, a person they can always turn to for advice without shame or embarrassment. It is necessary to establish strong and healthy child-parent relations from the very birth of the baby. It will be much more difficult to do this after the child enters adolescence.
Carefully tell your child that our world is not always a safe place, and it is very easy to stumble upon people with ill intentions. Explain that you should not correspond on the Internet with unknown adult men and empty accounts without photos and publications. Say that no outsider adequate adult would want to "just be friends" with a student on the Internet. Emphasize that you cannot tell strangers on the Internet personal information about yourself and your loved ones.
Now all schools use common class chats on social networks or messengers, so you can't do without registering on VKontakte or WhatsApp. If your child attends primary school, due to his age, he is unlikely to mind if you, the parent, become friends with him or subscribe to the page. You can also invite children to make private profiles on social networks. This way, neither the notes nor the photos on your child's page will be visible to outsiders.
Most likely, as your child grows up, you will encounter his teenage rebellion. As we wrote above, children should not be allowed to feel overprotected. In an atmosphere of total control, where children have little personal space and parents have access to social media pages, children become secretive.
Therefore, it is very important that the child does not feel like you are his supervisor. From time to time, it's better to ask if your children mind if you see their posts on social media. networks.
If suddenly a teenager tells you that he is uncomfortable, it is better to unsubscribe. It is necessary to maintain the trust and respect of children, because a child who is not supported by his parents becomes an easy target for pedophiles. By trusting your child, you show that you listen to his opinion, which means that it is safe to tell you the truth. After all, if a child's profiles are open, you can still visit his page and read posts, even if you are not subscribed.
Instagram, Twitter, and Vkontakte profiles are most likely to be closed when a child was in elementary school, but at middle school age he will want to open them. Instagram and Vkontakte accounts make it harder for people who don't follow you to see your page, and they can't read your comments on Twitter.
With an open profile, all people on the internet will be able to read your child's posts and see photos. And sometimes posts or tweets can go viral, becoming very popular and gaining a lot of likes, views, and comments. Popular accounts attract perverts: for example, pedophiles can simply send photos of their genitals in private messages.
If an empty account does this, then it is difficult to hold a person accountable. And if there is a real person behind the account with photos of their face on the page, they can be punished.
In many social networks and messengers, correspondence can be permanently deleted from both sides at once. If an attacker realizes that he is being punished for a crime, he can quickly clean up all traces. When confronted with a pedophile who sends "dickpicks" (from dick picture – a photo of a man's penis) or writes vulgar messages, it is important that the child immediately tells his parents about it. Upon learning about this, it is better to immediately take a screenshot of the correspondence, save a photo with the criminal's face from his page and block it. After that, you need to complain about the account to the moderators of the social network and contact the police with screenshots.
You can consult on child safety issues on the hotline, including on the Internet:
8-801 201 5555, for calls in the Republic of Belarus, from landlines of A1, MTC, and life mobile operators :) the call is free.
+375 162 218888, for calls from abroad and within the Republic of Belarus, long-distance charges are applied.
113, free code-free calls from landlines in the territory of the Republic of Belarus.
If necessary, our staff will give you the numbers of other organizations that can help.
https://kids.pomogut.by / is a joint initiative of the Representative Office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus. The project is aimed at preventing and countering the exploitation of children on the Internet.
8-801-100-16-11 – children's telephone line (round the clock, anonymous, free of charge).
Also send questions to the following email address: bpwbrest@mail.ru . Please provide your name, gender, age and nationality. The anonymity and confidentiality of your request is guaranteed.
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