Prevention of online child sexual exploitation in the hands of empowered Cambodian youth

Seila Samleang, Executive Director at Action pour les Enfants (APLE) Cambodia, shares highlights from the training on "Preventing online child sexual exploitation and internet safety" organised by APLE Cambodia for 47 children and teachers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Date 2019-09-12 Author APLE Cambodia, Cambodian hotline Section awareness, hotlines, youth

"The main purpose of the training was to assess the participants' behaviour when using the internet and social media, how they recognise and counter risks, and develop a joint awareness-raising plan of action to enable them to share the knowledge through dialogues or workshops among their peer groups or networks in the communities.

"APLE, providing tools to combat child sexual abuse exploitation, promotes its hotline and online training for children, professionals and parents through a course available at the hotline's website on www.internethotlinecambodia.org.

"Chhit Sreylang, a 15-year-old participant, said that the training was really important for children and youth as well as for parents and caretakers. She added that she got a clearer understanding on how to use the internet safely in order to protect herself from online sexual exploitation and share her learnings with others. She also spoke about how children should be more careful to keep themselves safe on the internet. 

"Sreylang conducted a peer-to-peer learning activity to share her knowledge of online child sexual exploitation with 35 classmates at her school in the Prey Veng province. According to the girl, the session went very well, as an estimated 70 to 80 per cent of the attempted knowledge to be transferred was understood by the participants.

"Sreylang felt motivated to share these learnings because she perceived an increase of internet use among her peers, exposing them to risks of abuse and exploitation.

"APLE Cambodia is pleased to see her initiative and good deed to protect her community from online child sexual exploitation.

"Don't ignore it; report online child sexual exploitation!"

For more information about APLE Cambodia, visit aplecambodia.org.

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