ASEAN Regional Conference on Child Online Protection

ChildSafeNet participated in the ASEAN Regional Conference on Child Online Protection in Bangkok from 25-27 February 2020 as a panel speaker. ChildSafeNet president Anil Raghuvanshi made a presentation on Nepal Reporting portal https://report.iwf.org.uk/np to eliminate online child sexual abuse images and videos. ChildSafeNet has been collaborating with the Internet Watch Foundation to promote the reporting portal in Nepal.

The panel, “Positioning ICTs in multi-stakeholders efforts towards child online protection” was moderated by John Zoltner, Save the Children US. ChildSafeNet was delighted to participate as a member of the panel, along with the prominent experts on child online protection as the fellow panelists - Amanda Third, Professor of Western Sydney University; Dr Julia Fossi, Director of International Policy and Strategic Projects, Office of eSafety Commissioner, Australia; Jenny Thornton, International Development Manager, Internet Watch Foundation; David Wright, Director, UK Safer Internet Centre; and; Hoang Thu Giang, Authority of Information Security, Viet Nam.

The regional conference, jointly organized by regional offices of Unicef, ITU and UNODC, gathered over 200 delegates to find solutions and identify key actions to ensure the safety of ASEAN children from online exploitation and abuse. The conference, held , underscored the importance of cross-sectoral and multi stakeholders collaboration and partnership.

During the Conference, ChildSafeNet had opportunity to meet global experts on child online protection, namely, Dr Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children; Dr Julia Fossi, Director of International Policy and Strategic Projects, Office of eSafety Commissioner, Australia; Ian Drennan, Executive Director Designate, WePROTECT Global Alliance; Sameer Sharma, Regional Director, a.i., ITU, Alexandru Caciuloiu, Cybercrime and Crypotocurrencies Advisor, UNODC; Himal Ojha, Cybercrime Prevention Officer, UNODC; Ilya Smirnoff, Executive Director, Childline Thailand Foudation; Marie-Laure Lemineur, Deputy Executive Director for Programmes, ECPAT International; Donine Van der Keur, Disrupting Harm Project Manager, ECPAT International; Dr Elizabeth Milovidov, Independent Expert, Child Online Protection, Digital Parenting; Jian Xi Teng, Programme Officer in ICT, UNESCO; Rachel Harvey, Regional Child Protection Advisor, Unicef EAPRO; Anjan Bose, Child Protection Specialist, Unicef NYHQ; and many others.