Croatia publishes its first Internet Safety Charter

Safer Internet Day (SID) 2018 activities were organised with record-breaking numbers all across Croatia, which is a sign of a broad national action to educate all internet users about ways to protect them on digital platforms.

Date 2018-03-17 Author Croatian Safer Internet Centre Section awareness
On the occasion of SID 2018, there was a public press conference and signing of the Internet Safety Charter which the Croatia Safer Internet Centre (SIC), along with partners, has initiated with help from HAKOM (the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries) and all three mobile communications operators (Croatian Telecom, Tele2 and VIPnet), in cooperation with the Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
 

This joint effort aims to raise parent's awareness of this important topic and, at the same time, show determination and readiness to participate in creating a better and safer environment for children on the internet and to promote the protection of children and young people. Although the charter was written by adults for adults to comply with, young Pavle aged 10 read the entire charter for the media and representatives of all three mobile communications operators.
 
SID event in Croatia - Pavle reads the charter
 
Details of the SID celebration were presented during the conference, which included Facebook support messages as well as brochures for children and parents in the 2017/2018 school year, which were printed and delivered to all elementary schools for fifth grade students (45,000 brochures). On behalf of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, doc. dr. sc. Tena Velki presented the results of research involving more than 3,000 high school students from all over Croatia. The results indicate worrying behaviour and knowledge of young information system users: over 31 per cent of students voluntarily wrote their private email account password in the questionnaire. In the overall national sample, the average risk behaviour of students as computer users is estimated to be highly risky (4 out of 5), while knowledge is estimated to be only average (3 out of 5).
 
Croatia SID activities map
 
More than 390 organisations, schools and institutions from across Croatia participated in the celebration of SID this year. Among other things, an innovative and diverse education package was provided to help participants plan celebrations, which included lectures, workshops, online video lectures for teachers, literary and creative works and promotional and educational materials. In line with marking SID among various target groups, the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Social Policy held a thematic session "Child safety on the internet" in the Croatian parliament which was initiated by the Croatian SIC. It attracted a high attendance rate and received lots of interest in both the media and among participants.
 
Croatia SID quiz stats
 
In addition, the traditional internet quiz was hosted on the www.dansigurnijeginterneta.org website where children and young people could receive valuable prizes by participating in the largest online quiz. This year, 17,489 children and youth from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia participated in the quiz, with over 44,645 quiz-solving sessions recorded.
 
SID 2018 was a great success in Croatia with involvement from influencers on Instagram and Facebook, good involvement and interest from schools and organisations, and a fantastic response from the media, the general public, policy makers and industry. We look forward to SID 2019 and hope for even better results next year!
 
See the Croatian Safer Internet Day profile page for further information.
 
Find out more about the work of the Croatian Safer Internet Centre (SIC), including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services.
 
Images copyright of the Croatian Safer Internet Centre.

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