IWF and EU partners march in Brussels to demand action on vital child sexual abuse regulation
- On Tuesday 19th September, the IWF joined child protection organisations, child sexual abuse survivors, young people and other advocates from across Europe to ask EU leaders to ‘clean up the internet’ from sexual predators and to better protect children online.
- The action came as new data from the European Commission’s Eurobarometer found that Europeans are strongly supportive of protecting children online.
- 92% agree that children are increasingly at risk online.
- 82% agree that tools like parental controls are not enough to protect children.
- 78% support or strongly support the Commission’s proposal to fight child sexual abuse.
- Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is something that the EU is at the heart of and the IWF among other child protection organisations have vocalised the need for EU lawmakers to finish negotiations on the regulation aimed at fighting CSAM.
- For more, please visit the IWF’s website.
The following stories may be regionalised:
Report says parents don’t believe children must be in school every day anymore
- A new study by consultancy Public First, conducted research on focus groups of parents in England as concerns increase around the rise in children missing school.
- Researchers spoke with eight focus groups of parents of school-age children across eight different locations in England in June and July.
- One mother of two primary-school-aged children from Manchester stated: “After COVID, I’m not [going] to lie to you, my take on attendance and absence now is like I don’t really care anymore.”
- On one day in spring this year, local authorities in England reported an estimated 24,700 children as missing education.
- This new report calls for fines for school absences to be “potentially abolished” as it suggests they are failing to change parental behaviour and it “undermines” relationships between schools and parents.
- For more, please visit the Sky News website.
What does the new Welsh guidance on vaping mean for you
- Guidance to help schools in Wales tackle vaping has been published.
- Head teachers have reported growing problems with vaping, including having to monitor toilets, increasing exclusions and the disruption of lessons.
- Figures from the School Health Research Network showed that 20% of Year 7 to 11 students said they have tried vaping.
- The new guidance has said that vaping devices should not be used by under-18s.
- Public health Wales (PHW) has said that there are key actions schools can take, including understand the patterns of vaping behaviour and addressing any buying and selling of vapes between students.
- Schools should also support young people in their care to stop.
- The guidance also says that information about vaping should be delivered as part of broader substance misuse education.
- Staff, visitors and parents have also been addressed in the guidance, the PHW has said use of vaping devices should be prohibited on school grounds.
- To access the guidance in full, please visit the PHW website.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
