BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Holder of MA in social prevention and resocialisation. He has worked for the Nobody’s Children Foundation since 1997, taking part in numerous projects addressing the problem of child abuse. He is an author or co-author of a number of publications on social campaigns and the issue of child abuse (e.g. „Protecting children against corporal punishment – Awareness-raising campaigns” published by the Council of Europe).

Since 2002 he has been conducting trainings on child abuse on the internet. He is the author of the first national campaign focused on children’s safety online, “Child on the Web” (“You Never Know Who Is on the Other Side”, 2004), “Stop Cyber-bullying” (2007), “Every move on the internet leaves a trace” (2010) and the initiator of several other projects addressing the issue of safe internet use by children, including Sieciaki.pl project (2005) and 3…2…1… Internet (2009).

Łukasz Wojtasik is an author of research, e.g. “Child on the Web” (2004, 2006), "Peer violence and electronic media” (2007) and lesson plans addressing the issue of online threats to children. He is one of the initiators of the European “Safer Internet” programme in Poland (the national coordinator of the Awareness project in 2005–2006). Since 2006 he has been coordinating “Child on the Web” – Nobody’s Children Foundation’s comprehensive programme aimed at improving young internet users’ safety online. He is a member of the Chapter of the Interklasa Quality Certificate. He also represents the Nobody’s Children Foundation in the Team for Preventing Discrimination of Children in Electronic Media in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.

In his personal life he runs the Jabłkowscy Gallery in Warsaw and a photography project Fotomiastikon.pl.

29 September, Wednesday, 10.00 - 10.15

Plenary session: E-learning courses for parents and professionals

Since 2007 Nobody’s Children Foundation in cooperation with the Orange Foundation provide e-learning courses on the safety of children on the internet. During the recent years 3 courses for primary and middle school pupils were made available on the e-learning platform www.kursy.dzieckowsieci.pl. So far, over 100,000 children made use of it.

“Child on the Web” courses for adults are a new offer of Nobody’s Children Foundation and Orange Foundation, where professionals working with children and parents will find in-depth information on children’s safety online.

The course is divided into three modules. The first module contains a description of internet threats to children – NCF's employees present the specificity, scale and legal aspects of internet child grooming, children's contact with dangerous content, cyber-violence and cyber-crime. The opinions of the experts are presented along with multimedia materials. The second module focuses on the prevention of threats – among other things it presents the experiences and offer of the Helpline.org.pl project. The third module introduces the websites and educational offers of the "Child on the Web" programme. It features fragments of e-learning courses and educational films used in school curricula. Tomasz Sobczak is the course guide.

The „Child on the Web” course is an excellent tool for professional self-development. It can be watched on the www.dzieckowsieci.pl website or on the www.kursy.dzieckowsieci.pl platform. After completing the course on the platform the learners may obtain a training certificate. Course DVDs will be released soon and they may be used in trainings for example during teaching staff meetings.

“Child on the Web” courses are part of the Safer Internet programme in Poland.

Plenary session: Psychological and legal aspects of grooming. A new online grooming legislation awareness campaign

Counteracting the problem is one of the priorities of the online safety of children policy all over the world. Apart from education and support, a very important role here is played by appropriate legal regulations and efficient Police initiatives targeting those who seduce children on the internet.

In Poland, the problem of internet child grooming was taken up already in 2004 by the Nobody’s Children Foundation (NCF), which organized a nationwide campaign "Child on the Web". The campaign’s motto „You never know who is on the other side” drew attention to the threats arising from contacts with strangers on the internet. As part of the Saferinternet.pl programme initiated in 2005, NCF together with the Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK), as well as a number of partners, has been conducting comprehensive educational activities aimed at increasing the safety of children on the internet. These activities focus particularly on the threats connected with sexual harassment of children. Since 2007, NCF together with the Orange Foundation has been running the Helpline.org.pl (800 100 100) project, where consultants provide support for children, parents and professionals in situations where there is a suspected online child grooming.

During her speech, Marta Wojtas from NCF will present an outline of the problem of sexual harassment of children with the use of modern technologies. The speech will be based on the experience gained through the Helpline.org.pl campaign and will focus on a particular form of the phenomenon – internet child grooming.

Łukasz Wojtasik – the NCF’s „Child on the Web” campaign coordinator will talk abort new legal regulations that came into effect in Poland on 8 June 2010. These regulations penalize grooming and making sexual offers to children on the internet. Hew will also sum up the „Every move on the internet leaves a trace” campaign aimed at raising awareness about the new regulations.