Workshops on Internet Safety for Children

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01 Nov 2020

05 October 2016 Lebanon is online and mobile The amount of people accessing the internet through handheld devices has grown as the infrastructure for mobile communication advances In 2014 UNdata estimated nearly 75 of Lebanese people have access to the internet Like most parts of the world children are increasingly online using the internet to socialize research and enjoy multimedia content With this in mind and in advance of the new school year UNIFIL in partnership with Lebanon s Higher Council for Childhood HCC within the Ministry of Social Affairs MOSA have run a series of workshops around south Lebanon promoting the Safer Use of the Internet for Children The objective of the workshops is to show professionals parents municipalities volunteers and children how to surf online safely There is a capacity building element to the course through the initial Train-the-trainer day Here participants are shown how to pass on these skills to young people Crucially the workshops caution on the potential risks to children of careless internet use It teaches young people how to recognize online recruiting methods and cases of abuse against children trafficking and sexual abuse and how to report these The course is as up to date as possible incorporating social media platforms A coordinator of the Awareness Committee at the HCC and trainer Katia Haddad points out The trainees might think they are familiar with the material of the session but they discover there are new things they have never known before The participants were enthusiastic and engaged Zainab Aidibi from the center of Developmental services in Jabal al-Butm reflects I was very attracted by the topic of the session and I wanted to take part in it as soon as I learnt that it is on internet use and children s safety An important issue in this regard is that we should not prevent our children from using the internet but instead there must be monitoring and implementation of certain rules to use internet properly ---------------------------------------------------------------- Article Aoibheann O'Sullivan Video Editor Mohamad Hamze Suzane Badereddine Video Camera Mohamad Hamze