105 reports of child abuse committed over the internet were received by Agenzija Appogg’s Supportline 179-Hotline service between July and December last year. These included images of child pornography and malicious contact with minors in chatrooms, through email or peer-to-peer networks, the Foundation for Social Welfare Services said yesterday.

According to the foundation’s first annual report on the service, 27 cases of the alleged abuse were found to be true and these were passed to the cybercrime unit of the police force.

The hotline service is co-funded by the European Commission. It is run with the help of a psychological officer, a project coordinator, and a technological officer. Other stakeholders include the police, the Child Commissioner, the Education Department and the internet service providers (ISPs).

The Investment, Industry, and Information Technology Ministry has also teamed up with Appogg to run an awareness campaign.

A group of 11-year-old schoolchildren were present at the launch at the Lily of the Valley girls’ secondary school in Mosta. Almost all the girls present had internet services, said the head of school, Josette Mifsud, as the seated group of students looked on.

Ms Mifsud explained to the girls that as outlined previously in their personal social development class, the internet was a benefit for everyone and a great source of information. However, if anyone started harassing them, for example by sending them disturbing emails, they should call the Supportline 179 service.

The hotline has also been involved in generating awareness on safer use of the internet, which includes interactive sessions with students in schools, talks to parents, media programmes and advertising. A section of the Appogg website, www.appogg.gov.mt, also provides information in this matter.

Also present at the launch were Joe Gerada, Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS) chief executive officer, Department of Education general director Cecilia Borg, Appogg acting operations director Catherine Fleri Soler, together with cybercrime police unit and Information Technology Ministry representatives.

Mr Gerada said that institutions had the responsibility to protect children from those who used this system for criminal activity, particularly child abuse. This was the way institutions needed to work as they existed to serve and not be served.

Ms Fleri-Soler said that most internet abuse today was targeted at children and the latter had to know what must be done to avoid it. She emphasised that children who called the supportline could do so anonymously and she also stressed the key role of ISPs who were also collaborating on this type of awareness.

Dr Borg told The Malta Independent that as an educator, she felt truly concerned when she heard of such abuse over the internet. She said that this collaboration and the stakeholders involved were all doing their part to raise awareness and hand out information to children and parents through this report.

Dr Borg said that because of the young age of the students, it was also vital for the parents to be properly aware of the situation and its prevention. The Education Department would be issuing a circular to schools instructing them to organise a meeting with the parents to discuss the issue.

A free copy of the annual report on CD or a leaflet about the hotline service can be obtained by calling the Foundation for Social Welfare Services Marketing Department on tel. 2144-1014 or the Hotline team on tel. 2295-5000. It can also be downloaded from the Appogg agency website at http://www.appogg. gov.mt/informationreports.asp.