Prague, July 1 (CTK) – The Czech Child Crisis Centre (DKC) launched on Saturday a helpline focused on new forms of threats to children in the cyber space that will will have a non-stop operation, DKC director Zora Duskova has told journalists.
The timing was chosen deliberately, because the summer and holidays offer more time to children to spend their leisure with their computers.
Maybe 15 percent of children between eight and 15 are implicated in sexting, such as the sending of their intimate photos, Duskova said.
A survey has revealed that although most children consider a personal meeting with the people they know from the Internet dangerous, some 55 percent of them are ready to go to it.
“The impact of the trauma may be very serious, even if this happens in the cyber space,” Duskova said.
“The children are not sufficiently prepared for the risks and they can be easily forced to the activities with a negative impact on their psychology,” Duskova said.
The new helpline is to help the children threatened by cyber harassment, sexual attacks and unsuitable content and to support children’s rights and to inform them about the ways with which to deal with the risks threatening in cyber space, she added.
Both children and adults can turn to the helpline, Duskova said.
“The experience with the helpline has shown that the threats to children in cyber space are associated with tremendous suffering, which may lead to suicides in some serious cases,” DKC expert Hana Konecna said.
The DKC deals with the most serious cases of physical, psychological and sexual violence committed on children.
Since its opening in 1992, 6,200 clients have used its services.
