Atlantic Initiative Aims to Protect Girls from Cyber-violence

In celebration of the first International Day of the Girl, the Atlantic Canada Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women joined students at MacDonald Drive Junior High School in St. John’s today (Thursday, October 11), to launch a project to protect girls from cyber-violence.

“With the popularity and increased use of social media among young people, parents are looking for ways to keep their children safe online,” said the Honourable Charlene Johnson, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women and lead Minister of the Provincial Government’s Violence Prevention Initiative. “In recent years, statistics have shown that girls are more likely than boys to experience cyber-violence. By launching this project we want all young girls to be aware of the risks they face when using the Internet and how to protect themselves online.”

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2009, a female was the victim in 80 per cent of cases of luring minors over the Internet for sexual purposes. In addition, the 2010 Provincial Survey of Attitudes towards Violence and Abuse showed that violence and abuse on the Internet is a concern to more than 78 per cent of the adult population province-wide.

As a result of such findings, the Atlantic Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women committed to work together to create awareness and prevent cyber-violence being perpetrated against young girls on the Internet.

The Cybersafe Girl initiative provides young girls, as well as parents and educators, with information on how girls experience violence and abuse on the Internet, and more importantly, how to prevent these incidents from happening.

The Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education, chaired the launch of the Cybersafe Girl project and emphasized the importance of these materials for parents and educators.

“As a government, we are committed to working with educators, parents and youth to combat all forms of intimidation, harassment, aggression and abuse against our students,” said Minister Jackman. “I congratulate the Atlantic Status of Women Ministers on this initiative and I strongly encourage educators in the province to use this Cybersafe Girl information, and to make it available to intermediate and high school students and their parents.”

The Cybersafe Girl project includes three fact sheets of tips for parents, educators and girls, as well as a website (www.cybersafegirl.ca) , all of which are available in English and French.

Through the Violence Prevention Initiative, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is committed to finding long-term solutions to violence against those most at risk in our society, including women, children and youth.

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Photo 1: Atlantic Canada Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women launched the Cybersafe Girl project at MacDonald Drive Junior High in St. John’s.

Photo 2: Atlantic Canada Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women announced the Cybersafe Girl project at MacDonald Drive Junior High in St. John’s.

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2012 10 11             9:25 a.m.