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When modern problems require modern solutions: Cyber Care app to combat cyber violence

10 Feb 2021

9 February marked “Safer Internet Day”, but there is much to be done for the internet to truly be considered a safe space, especially for women and children. Research conducted by global child welfare organisation Save The Children showed that 45 million online photos and videos of children being sexually abused have been reported to 164 US tech companies. And this is the number we know of.  The internet is no safer for adults either. Online harassment, and violence against women and girls is becoming more and more pervasive, and the impacts of this violence on victims cannot be understated. Merely because violence is not physical doesn’t mean that it is less powerful. If at all, online violence, which includes leaking compromising images and video,  blackmailing, creating fake accounts, hacking, and impersonation, has the power to do much more long-term harm than physical violence.  So how can we make the internet a safer place? It’s a herculean effort, and a war that very much needs to be fought on multiple fronts through awareness, education, and correcting societal behaviour. Safer Internet Day 2021 focused on the theme “Together for a better internet”, calling on stakeholders to join together and make the internet a safer and better place. Creating a safer online world means making innovative use of our resources. Modern problems require modern solutions.    The Cyber Care App: A potential modern solution?   Marking Safer Internet Day 2021, Cyber Warders – a group of young, passionate individuals committed to acting against cyber violence – together with the United Nations Development Programme Sri Lanka (UNDP Sri Lanka), launched the Cyber Care app, a mobile application that fights cyberviolence and empowers victims of cyber violence on multiple fronts.  Developed as part of the UNDP Sri Lanka’s HackaDev Thematic Challenge 2019, the theme of which was Preventing Cyber Violence and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, the Cyber Warders and their idea of the Cyber Care app was supported and incubated by the HackaDev team with the support of the Inclusive Governance and Gender team at UNDP Sri Lanka. The Cyber Care app offers a small variety of powerful services. One feature of the app is that it provides emergency assistance, with a directory of important contact details like polices stations, hospitals, and emergency services, and the contact details of organisations that support victims of cyber violence in crisis like Women In Need (WIN), the Grassrooted Trust, Save The Children Sri Lanka, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and so on, providing a resource of people that victims can call upon in dark times.  Not meant to simply be used in a crisis, another feature of the app is a resource library of information related to cyber violence to inform and educate not just women and girls, but anyone who wants to learn about cyber violence and harassment, what constitutes cyber violence, what laws are in place, and tips on how to be safer online. This aspect of the cyber care app aims to give people some kind of legal and procedural knowledge.  Appealing to children as well as adults, the cyber care app features games to attract children into the app and give them the chance to learn about cyber violence in a relaxed, non-structured setting, and get them comfortable with the app so that if they ever are in the position of being victims of cyber violence, they know where to turn for support.  Another prevention-better-than-cure feature presented by the app is the parental caring feature. Parents have busy lives and, even when not bound by changing technology and trends, are not always able to look after their children online, often not being aware what their children get up to on their phones (a device they have unrestricted access to). Through the Parental Care feature, parents can track their children’s location and non-intrusively monitor how much time their children spend on social media.    Making an impact    Speaking on the journey of the cyber care app, UNDP Sri Lanka Deputy Resident Representative Faiza Effendi shared that the HackaDev Thematic Challenge process, which gave rise to the cyber care app, especially speaks to the present pandemic where a large number of our youth are engaged in the cyberspace and exposed to cyberbullying. Effendi also recognised the role that youth play within Sri Lanka in promoting and fostering connections that enable Sri Lanka to keep making strides forward.  UNDP Sri Lanka Gender Specialist Bimali Amarasekera explained that adolescents of both genders and unmarried women are the biggest victims of cyber violence and that the cyber care app is a platform that will give young people the chance to come forward and talk about the violence they are facing and get help. 

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