INTERNATIONAL MISSING CHILDRENﹶS DAY DEDICATED TO FIGHT AGAINST ONLINE GROOMING OF CHILDREN
| Banja Luka | Tuesday, 25/05/2021
The Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior, as a member of the International Organization "Amber Alert Europe" ("Amber Alert Europe") and members of law and order enforcement authorities around the world dedicated the May 25th - International Missing Children's Day to fight against online grooming.
The activities include internet influencers with a cryptic "TikTok" dance challenge that is actually staged to educate teenagers about signs of online grooming. The challenge marks the start of a #CheckBeforeYouChat ( #ProvjeriPrijeNegoŠtoČetuješ ) campaign organised by Amber Alert Europe, which has united NGOs, law enforcement and influencers around the world to fight an alarming increase in the number of cases of online grooming during the Covid 19 pandemic.
The Covid 19 pandemic has sparked social isolation, leading to an alarming increase in the number of cases of online grooming. Online grooming is when an adult befriends children online and builds their trust, often leading to sexual abuse online or in-person. The song "Love Birds" features five stages of online grooming for the purpose of sexual abuse, published on "TikTok" (a hugely popular app among the younger population) along with choreography that interprets the song into a five-step dance challenge. With the help of well-known dancers on "TikTok", the five-step dance challenge was performed by thousands of TikTok users around the world, and each step and its meaning, i.e. potential dangers, is explained in a video that can be viewed on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44P-zRkwZZo
The Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior during the first four months of 2021 recorded four child pornography offences.
More information about these activities can be found at: https://www.checkbeforeyouchat.com/
