Children’s safety on the Internet and combating child sexual abuse

On the 6th of October, 2014 IOM Minsk organized the press-conference dedicated to the launch of the information campaign within the framework of the international technical assistance project “Strengthening the National Capacity of the Republic of Belarus in the Sphere of Combating Trafficking in Human Beings” jointly implemented with the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) of the Republic of Belarus. The event was organized with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The information campaign focuses on the issues of children’s safety on the Internet and combating child sexual abuse. The main speakers at the press-conference were Nataly Zhak (CT Specialist, IOM), Dmitry Tsayun (Head of the Combating International Human-Trafficking Department, the Directory of Drug Control and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, MoI), Inna Lemeshevskaya (Deputy Secretary General, Belarus Red Cross Society), Larisa Istomova (Chairperson of PA “Business Women Club), Margarita Pryakhina (Head of the City PA on combating child abuse “Children are not for violence”). The speakers highlighted the significance of the discussed issues and proved them with the accurate statistics and relevant cases of victims of sexual abuse and child pornography, they also informed about the main challengers and trends in the field, proving the importance and need in the information campaign as a preventive tool of child pornography and sexual abuse against children.