Marking the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse 2019

On Tuesday, 19 November 2019, we celebrate the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse. This initiative was launched by the Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF) in 2000 and aims to mobilise governments and societies to take action against and prevent child abuse.

Date 2019-11-19 Author BIK Team Section awareness, hotlines

According to the WWSF, "child abuse, especially sexual abuse, is a universal and alarming problem and increased attention and efficient protection skills and prevention measures are necessary at family-, local-, national- and international level". The World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse is marked every year on 19 November, in synergy with the United Nation's World's Children Day, which happens on the day after – every 20 November.

In 2001, the WWSF launched a truly global call to action by forming a coalition of 930 non-governmental organisations in over 135 countries. The aim is to "contribute to the creation of a culture of prevention of child abuse and form a global partnership network to raise awareness, mobilise public opinion and action, and disseminate prevention programmes".

As part of the European Commission's Better Internet for Kids (BIK) strategy, a network of INHOPE Association Hotlines exist to allow members of the public to report illegal content – including child sexual abuse material (CSAM) – anonymously, and therefore to help put an end to the (re-)circulation of CSAM on the internet. In 2018, INHOPE hotlines have assessed 337,588 videos and images of CSAM, and 50 per cent of it was taken down within 3 days after being reported.

In 2019, INHOPE celebrates its 20 years of activity. For the occasion, Denton Howard, Executive Director of INHOPE and Fred Langford, President of INHOPE, will host a deep dive session at the Safer Internet Forum (SIF) on Thursday, 21 November 2019, during which they will review what has been achieved over the past 20 years in combatting illegal online content and more specifically CSAM.

To learn more about the work of hotlines around Europe and beyond, visit INHOPE's website. Additionally, you can read the hotlines' latest news on the BIK portal. For more information about the Safer Internet Forum and the INHOPE@20 event, visit betterinternetforkids.eu/sif.

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