MLAs Back Internet Safety Campaign

The Ulster Unionist Party and the Alliance Party have backed a new campaign to help young people remove explicit images online.

The campaign, a collaboration between ChildLine and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), follows a recent survey that revealed 60% of young people have been asked for a sexual image or video and 40% have created an image or video of themselves.

Over half of the young people surveyed by ChildLine said they had received a sexual photo or video. Most received them from a partner but a third received them from a stranger.

Ulster Unionist MLA Sandra Overend announced her support for the scheme. She said: "I have a long-standing interest in Internet safety. It has many aspects which, due to technological advances and developments, are rapidly changing the ways in which our young people use the internet.

"I have previously called for a more co-ordinated approach between Westminster and Stormont, and an inter-departmental strategy across Executive Departments here in the Northern Ireland Assembly to help promote Internet safety, which I regret to say appears to be making very slow progress.

"Anything that helps our children and young people stay safer online deserves our full support and I wish this venture every success."

Alliance Party OFMDFM spokesperson Chris Lyttle MLA said: "We have seen a growth of 'sexting' in recent years, which can have a devastating impact on the lives of young people. By providing advice and reducing the pressure on young people to share sexually explicit images, we can help reduce this worrying trend.

"I would like to commend Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation for the work they are doing to combat this problem and the help they provide to those young people who can find themselves in the troubling situation when an image becomes public."

(IT/JP)