ITU celebrates global Safer Internet Day, 11 February

The International Telecommunication Union is joining with other United Nations agencies, NGOs, governments and tech companies around the world to celebrate Safer Internet Day, with a special focus on education strategies to promote greater online safety for children and young people.

Under the theme “Creating a better Internet together”, ITU is championing the work of its Child Online Protection initiative, which offers comprehensive sets of Guidelines for Children, for Parents and Teachers, for Policy Makers, and for the Tech Industry, in all six official UN languages. Research indicates that around half of all European children have online access in their bedrooms, and a quarter of 12-to-15-year-olds now own a tablet. The use of smartphones to send, receive and post photos and videos online is also rising fast. But experts say children's online safety skills have failed to rise at the same rate as their adoption of new applications and devices. Sexting, bullying, unsolicited explicit content (sex and violence) and sexual approaches from strangers have become routine online dangers modern teenagers face, yet studies show that adults' knowledge of what young people are doing online is often vague and complacent.