Tirana, 8 February 2022 – The Albanian National Internet Safety Hotline (ISIGURT.AL), raised the alarm for the second consecutive year, on the increase of online sexual violence and harassment against children and adolescents in Albania. This has been accompanied by an increase in the number of pages containing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), compared with pre-covid incident reports.
The figures were made public in the Annual Report of the Albanian National Internet Safety Hotline (ISIGURT.al) and CRCA/ECPAT Albania during the 7th National Forum on Safer Internet. Although compared to data from year 2020, when ISIGURT.AL reported 6-fold increase in reporting of CSAM, even during 2021, children and adolescents continued to report high level of online sexual violence. At least 2800 pages were reported containing online child sexual abuse materials.
The main data of the Report show that:
The number of reported pages containing CSAM, compared to the pre-Covid period, tripled during 2021. Over 2800 pages were reported to the Hotline;
Boys continue to report at a higher rate online incidents compared to girls, but girls are the main victims of online CSAM, almost 66 percent of all the cases;
The most affected age by cyber incidents is the age group of 15-17 years old, which accounts for 47% of all reported incidents.
The main cities where incidents are reported are coming from Tirana (almost 50% of incidents) followed by Elbasan, Fieri, Durrës, Peqin and Vlora.
Instagram is the platform with the most reported incidents, followed by Youtube and Facebook.
Data from AKEP, INSTAT and ISP’s shows that at least 80 percent of children and adolescents in Albania have access to fast and unrestricted Internet access. Most children have uncontrolled access to the Internet because of the smart devices they use to access online education, especially during the time when schools were masse closed.
Based on this situation, the National Platform ISIGURT.AL in cooperation with the Minister of State for Youth and Children, National Agency for the Rights and Protection of Children, with the support of CRCA/ECPAT Albania, the National Center for Safer Internet and BARNAHUS Albania organize the 7th National Forum: “Together for a safer internet for Children and Youth in Albania” The Safe Internet Forum, which is in its seventh year, has already become an annual event to reflect on the situation on the Internet safety, the problems that accompany children and young people from their navigation online, the measures that institutions and the internet industry should take over the year to make the internet safer.
Representatives of public institutions working for children and youth, the internet industry, and the online media, child rights experts, Child Protection Units, law enforcement agencies and justice institutions, etc., joined the Forum discussions and provided recommendations. The Forum is organized every year in the framework of the International Day for Safe Internet.
For more information, please contact:
Altin Hazizaj, Executive Director of CRCA/ECPAT Albania
Cel: +355675002020
E-mail: crca@crca.al
Media contact:
Albana Mustafaraj
E-mail: albana.mustafaraj@crca.al