PvdA Europees parlement


A safer internet for EU children

24 oktober 2008

An overwhelming majority of Euro-MPs today voted in favour of a new programme to make the internet safer for children. The new programme will build on the success of the current programme by extending its scope to ensure better protection for children from "grooming" and bullying. Today's renewal of the Safer Internet programme - with a budget of 55 million over five years - will ensure the funding of EU programmes and allow for the better protection of children using the internet.

With only 9 MEPs voting against, a total of 672 MEPs voted in the Strasbourg plenary session in favour of the programme that will fight against illegal and harmful content, promote a safer online environment, raise public awareness and encourage member states to share information for research purposes.

Socialist Group shadow rapporteur on this issue, Iliana Iotova MEP, a member of the Bulgarian Platform for European Socialists, said: "Children aged between twelve and fifteen spend at least three hours a day using the internet and we need to ensure they are protected from the dangers of illegal content and harmful conduct online."

"The programme will also provide for telephone hotlines, and there will be support for reporting misconduct such as inappropriate material on web-sites that can physically, mentally or morally harm children.

"The focus of the programme is on information for parents and teachers. It will promote measures designed to encourage positive internet content and give information to parents, teachers and guardians on the usefulness of filters. We have to create circumstances that allow children to use on-line technology and we need to encourage media literacy," she said.

The new programme will focus on practical help for internet users . Where appropriate, information packs for parents, carers and teachers should be made available.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and the Internet Watch Programme (IWP) have both given their support to the proposals as their research shows that child abuse online is a growing problem. They are also concerned about the risks of the knowledge gap between children and parents.