On International Missing Children's Day parents urged to keep their children safe from online sexual harassment

25 May in Europe is International Missing Children’s Day. This year emphasis is put on online sexual harassment or «grooming» problem.

Because children and teenagers spend a lot of time on the internet, there are risks of them becoming threatened even in the safety of their own home. Not everyone needs knowledge and skills to stay safe online. Latvia’s safer internet centre Drossinernets.lv, State Police and State Child Rights Protection Inspectorate all urge parents and teachers to educate children and teenagers about risks of online sexual harassment and necessary measures to stay safe.

Using the slogan #DontBeAnEasyCatch for the International Missing Children’s Day Europol urges parents, teachers and society as a whole to pay more attention to the risks of online sexual harassment and educate children and teenagers on how to act in problematic situations. It should be said that sexual harassment of individuals under 16 years is a criminal offence in Latvia, and this applies regardless if it is done online or in general life.

«I would like to remind parents that by using publicly accessible social network accounts, anyone, especially strangers, have a way to contact children directly, subjecting them to the risk of sexual harassment. In most situations predators pretend to be of the same age as their victims. They start with a friendly conversation with the victim, showing an interest in hobbies and doing all they can to secure the victim’s trust. An online conversation can easily devolve into a conversation about sex. If the child is not aware of this risk, it is possible he or she may be happy about online interest and may keep coming back, thinking the conversation is harmless,» explains Drossinternets.lv manager Maija Katkovska.

«It should be stressed that online sexual harassment can result in trauma for children – extortion of nude photos and videos, blackmail, creation of pornographic content, urges to meet in person, etc.»

«The internet environment can be used by criminals to satisfy their sexual desires. This includes online grooming, which is a criminal offence. Sex crimes online are most often committed by adult men interested in pre-pubescent children. Criminals who use the internet are flexible and use different manipulative techniques to achieve results. It has been observed that criminals often pretend to be of the same age as their victims online or create fake profiles to accomplish their goals more easily,» explains State Police Preventive Management Office chief Andis Rinkevics, adding that one of the reasons why children become victims is because they lack the necessary abilities to assess risks of communicating with people online.

«If a child becomes a victim, often they don’t ask for help, because they feel guilt, helplessness, fears, humiliation and anger over what happened. These emotions are the main reasons why children avoid asking for help,» explains State Child Rights Protection Inspectorate’s Families with Children Support Department vice-director Anda Sauļūna.

She continues: «In many cases when calling the Children and Teenagers trust hotline (116111), children told experts they don’t want to be punished for trusting strangers. Children are afraid to talk about what happened because they fear of being criticized and punished for not following internet safety rules. Often children feel having been used, and this makes it hard for them to trust and start a relationship with other people. They also feel the situation is left unresolved and so they feel in a trap. This often results in the feeling on loneliness and isolation, which stops them from seeking help. Without help, however, children change in their behaviour, often showing suicidal tendencies.»

To protect children from online sexual harassment, Drossinternets.lv urges parents to tell their children about the risks.

It is no less important to encourage children to ask adults for help if they suspect their conversation partner is not who they say they are. Parents should also check the security and privacy of their social network profiles to make sure strangers are unable to contact their children. Parents should also ask their children for their internet contacts and online hobbies.

Drossinternets.lv offers advice for parents on what they should do if they suspect their children are subjected to online sexual harassment:

-Listen how the child describes the situation without asking questions. Take what the child explains without emotions. Overreacting may cause children to shut in and not share what happened. Children fall victim to the situation. This is why they should be protected.

-Find out as much about what happened and who was involved as possible. Keep a list. This information will help with the investigation and can be used as evidence.

-Explain to the child what you will do with this information, who will have access to it and why measures are being taken.

-Report to Drossinternets.lv or State Police and consult with experts what should be done to handle the situation.