Rapid cybersecurity assessment for International Children`s Day

Today, June 1, the world celebrates the International Children's Day. It is one of the oldest international holidays, launched in 1925 in Geneva, at the World Conference on the Welfare of Children. The flag of The International Children's Day symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness and fertility, diversity and tolerance, as well as the Earth as our common home.

In Ukraine, since the beginning of a full-scale invasion of russia, more than 7 million Ukrainian children have had to grow up. Therefore, we continue to fight for the return of their childhood, for their future!

We care not only about the physical, but also about the information security of our children, so we are implementing projects on cybersecurity of adolescents to prevent digital sexual harassment on the network, improve cross-sectoral cooperation in preventing and responding to cases of online violence against children in Ukraine, etc.

Today we invite you to familiarize yourself with the "Rapid assessment of the cybersecurity of children aged 10-18".

The rapid assessment was conducted in April-May 2022 within the framework of the Project «Empowering Law Enforcement in Overcoming Online Violence against Children» financed by the European Union. The project recognizes the priority of protecting children as one of the most vulnerable groups from various forms of violence, including online violence, and on the need to take all possible measures to protect them. Project activities aim at increasing the capacity of law enforcement agencies and civil society organizations to protect child rights in the digital environment and creating effective modern tools to respond to child abuse in the Internet.

The main goal of the study was to assess the existing and new war-caused problems and needs of children aged 10-18 related to cybersecurity for further development of a priority action plan to effectively prevent and respond to online violence against children. The assessment had to be carried out quickly (within a month), with limited resources available to the experts due to the war (military action, migration and relocation of families with children, change of priorities and functions, etc.).

The report was prepared by a team of experts of the  NGO Labor and Health Social Initiatives  consisting of: Natalia Lukyanova, Candidate of Political Sciences, expert on protection of children's rights and Svitlana Fesenko, expert on sociological research, monitoring and evaluation.

The authors thank all the national experts and experts who took part in the study, as well as parents and children who found the time and opportunity to take part in the survey.

You can read the report or print it here Звіт оцінки ситуації щодо онлайн насильства серед дітей.pdf (lhsi.org.ua)