March 29, Colombo (LNW): In a significant step towards safeguarding children online, an online platform was inaugurated on Thursday (28) at the Presidential Secretariat, under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. This platform aims to swiftly remove websites, photos, and videos containing or potentially containing instances of child sexual abuse.
Recognizing the urgent need to address child abuse in cyberspace, this initiative specifically targets the dissemination of nude photos and indecent videos of children through the internet and social media channels.
Implemented by the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) in collaboration with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), renowned for its expertise in internet child safety enforcement, this program receives financial support from Save the Children and Child Fund.
With the launch of this online system, individuals can now visit the website of the National Child Protection Authority at www.childprotection.gov.lk to report incidents of indecent photos and videos of children exchanged online.
Reports submitted through this platform will be handled by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK-based global charity dedicated to hunting down and removing videos and images of child sexual abuse shared online. Working in collaboration with the NCPA, the IWF will ensure that offending videos are promptly removed from the internet, and legal action will be pursued against the perpetrators.
