Online campaign raises child abuse awareness with cartoons

It’s a sad fact that children as young as five years old are targeted by abusers online. So, it makes sense to raise awareness of online safety by sending a message straight to them, in a way they can understand, rather than preaching to their parents.

Now, several online safety awareness cartoons are being launched on behalf of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) as part of the EU Internet Safety Day, targeted towards children aged five to seven.

Initially, when the association was set up four years ago, it only focussed its campaigns towards older children and teenagers. However, head of Ceop, Jim Gamble explains the importance of having to send a message out to infant web users: “Unfortunately, some of the victims we see here are very young. People will try to find out where they are, where they go to school. Children can expose themselves to unnecessary risk.”

Speaking to the BBC, Gamble took some time to explain the cartoon-based campaign: “We do see children who are younger and younger being exposed to risk – and the risk is not always clear. There are a number of subtle messages.” He added: “Unbelievably some of these children have access to webcams, but that’s the world we live in.”

Ceop revealed every week, around 500 cases are reported using the “report abuse” button found on some websites. Young teenage girls were found to be the most at risk.

Research by telecommunications watchdog Ofcom published last autumn found 80 per cent of five to seven-year-olds and 94 per cent of nine to eleven year-olds actively use the internet. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of parents said they were concerned about the content their five to seven-year-olds were accessing.

The Lee and Kim cartoons are available to view at www.thinkuknow.co.uk.

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