Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR)
- Cyberviolence is the use of online systems to cause or facilitate violence against individuals that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering and may include the exploitation of the individual's circumstances, characteristics or vulnerabilities.
- Project aims to reduce online violence which may be on the increase as all students are depending on the use of Internet for the continuation of their studies. We propose to introduce approximately three-minute video clips uploaded to YouTube and a CD, explaining various aspects of cyberviolence, how to mitigate violence, where they can find help in the form of counselling and bring the perpetrators to book. The YouTube video clips could be accessed by anybody anywhere in the world. The CDs would be distributed freely among the schools in Sri Lanka. The video clips and CDs would be available in English and local languages.
https://sparc.cmb.ac.lk/wp-con...
Cyberharassment
- Defamation and other damage to reputation
- Cyberbullying etc.
ICT related violations of privacy
- Taking, sharing or manipulation of data
- Sextortion
- Stalking
- Doxing
- Identity theft etc.
Online sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children
- Sexual abuse
- Child prostitution
- Child pornography etc.
ICT related hate crime
- Against groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, disability
“The National Child Protection Authority’s (NCPA) child helpline, 1929, has seen an increase of 30% in complaints involving cruelty against children from the start of the country’s lockdown, making it highly probable that instances of online violence have increased as well.”
https://srilanka.savethechildr...
“Types of violence reported:
- Clicking on a link in a messages that showed indecent images of other people - 22.9%
- Receiving indecent text messages - 28.0%
- Receiving links and advertisements to indecent pictures/clip arts/videos/texts/ scripts/audio clips - 26.3%
- Sharing links and advertisements to indecent pictures/clip arts/videos/ texts/scripts/audio clips -24.3%
- Cyber Bullying - 20.7%
- Cyber Extortion - 20.7%
- Children have experienced online violence most while using Facebook (Boys – Nearly 74% / Girls – Nearly 58%), Instagram (Boys – Nearly 41% / Girls – Nearly 52%) and Twitter platforms (Boys – 25%/ Girls – Nearly 41%).”
https://sparc.cmb.ac.lk/wp-con...
The project intends to produce video clips of approximate three minutes duration which would have brief descriptions in simple language and graphical illustrations of instances of cyber violence. These would be uploaded to YouTube.
Video clips will show what possible actions could be taken to mitigate such action.
Contact details of Organisations that could help (NCPA, SLCERT, Women’s and Children’s Desks of 400 police stations, CSOs that provide counselling services such as WIN) would be included.
In addition to above video clips, a CD and coloured brochure would be produced with all the above information. These could be freely distributed among all stakeholders.
Those who have limited access to on-line material due to lack of devices, bad signal strength, who cannot afford to go online for long durations will benefit from the printed material. This would benefit parents too.
All material would be provided in English and the two local languages Sinhala and Tamil.
Provide awareness about cyberviolence to school children, teachers and parents through either online webinars or face to face programmes (pandemic situation permitting).
Parents of children in disadvantaged communities will be able to find out that their children are being subjected to on-line violence.
The solution is expected to help students understand that on-line access and participation has both positive and negative consequences. They need to be enabled to identify when they should report violence or cyberbullying to parents or teachers to obtain support to negate such action and eventually mitigate on-line violence thereby ensuring the physical safety and mental health of learners.
Students of Government Schools by Grade Cycle of Study -2019
Primary Cycle Grade 1-5 - 1,656,441
Junior Secondary Cycle Grade 6-9 - 1,359,061
Senior Secondary Cycle Grade 10-11 (O/Ls) - 627,477
Collegiate Cycle Grade 12-13 (A/Ls) - 411,161
Special Education Unit - 7,513
Total - 4,061,653
Source: http://www.statistics.gov.lk/R...
All the children in government schools – 4,061,653 in 2019, and other interested parties would have free access to all the material developed through the project.
Most of these children are not even aware that Cyber-harassment, ICT related violations of privacy,
Online sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children and ICT related hate crimes are violations against them.
Below is an extract from a report of the Save the children Sri Lanka:“COVID19’s impact on Sri Lanka has been immense with particularly severe consequences for children. As the pandemic spread across the globe, many countries, Sri Lanka included, went into various forms of lockdown to contain the spread. Schools in the country closed on March, 13, 2020, and, with island-wide curfew declared on March, 20, 4.1 million children of school going age were, and still are, confined to their homes.
The lockdowns have resulted in an increase in the number of children active online. Those with access to the internet are not only using it to keep up with their studies as schools remain closed, but also to stay occupied as parents focus on their own work from home arrangements. As more children come online, the risk of falling victim to a plethora of online abuse and violence increases substantially.
“We were very busy before the lockdown, and even children were doing other activities like studies, going to school. But now they’re lonely and locked up in their houses and their parents are involved in their own work. So now children tend to use more social media with no one to guide them, therefore they are more exposed to online violence in this situation”. Shanthini*,
The National Child Protection Authority’s (NCPA) child helpline, 1929, has seen an increase of 30% in complaints involving cruelty against children from the start of the country’s lockdown, making it highly probable that instances of online violence have increased as well.
Interpol and child protection agencies worldwide have reported an increasing trend in child online sexual exploitation. WePROTECT Global Alliance warns that the current environment has exacerbated existing drivers of online child sexual exploitation, providing new opportunities for abusers as they migrate online. This is, however, just the tip of the iceberg as sexual abuse and exploitation is not the only danger that children face while online.
Children are vulnerable to cyber bullying, blackmail, and identity theft, to name a few, not only from adults but from their own peers.
“When it comes to online violence many people stereotype it and focus mainly on cyber bullying but there’s actually a larger part to it. There’s phishing, identity theft, stealing personal information which leads to kidnapping, blackmailing and cyberbullying”. Ashan*, 17
Save the Children promotes online safety and encourages parents, adult, and children themselves to be aware of the risks associated with the internet. Methods such as using safety and privacy settings, supervision of internet use, and implementing blocks and filtering are among several measures parents can take to protect their children online. Parents may not however, have the time or the knowledge to supervise every moment of their child’s online activity. It is of paramount importance that children themselves have the information they need to protect themselves. It is also important to create an environment in which children feel comfortable talking to parents and care givers if they feel that something online is not quite right or makes them feel uncomfortable.
“People think that it’s online and they can be anonymous so they can get away with anything they want without thinking about whether it will hurt the other person’s feelings or not. More often than not, people do get hurt. Anonymity is the main reason why people think they can do it”. Ayesha*.
https://srilanka.savethechildr...
- Ensure the physical safety and mental health of learners—for example, through tools for crisis support, reporting violence, and mitigating cyberbullying.
Sri Lanka has since Independence, placed emphasis on providing greater access to education, retaining children in school until at least 14 years of age and improving the quality of education. More emphasis was placed on the education of children from low socio-economic backgrounds, and rural and plantation sectors. Innovative measures such as establishment of Central Schools, provision of school text-books, uniforms, school meals, subsidized transport, improvement of schools close to children’s residence, provision of qualified teachers to disadvantaged schools and introduction of 13 years of education were implemented by governments. The present pandemic however has posed insurmountable challenges to education.
- Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community.
Video clips of this nature have not been developed in Sri Lanka earlier. The student population especially the rural children will benefit from these as they will help to create awareness among them making them realise that cyberbullying etc. are unethical and therefore should not be encouraged. They will learn how to mitigate such actions and with the help of adults would be able to look for redress mechanisms.
Director - CENWOR