Hanoi (VNA) 𒀰– The Vietnam Cyber Safety for Children Club has been launched, with 11 founding members including businesses and organisations working in child support and protection in Vietnam.

To strengthen the connection between relevant parties and further promote online child protection, Vietnam Information Security Association (VNISA) launched the Vietnam Cyber Safety for Children Club (VCSC) on September 27 with 11 founding members including businesses and organisations working in child support and protection in Vietnam. Earlier on August 15, 2023, VNISA issued a decision to establish the VCSC with the 11 founding members with VNISA Vice Chairman Ngo Tuan Anh as the club’s chairman. The club’s initial members include Cyradar, VNPT Cyber Immunity, Smart Cyber Security (SCS), Bkav, FPT, NCS, Lancs Vietnam, Sconnect Vietnam, World Vision Vietnam, Plan International Vietnam and Childfund Vietnam.  Chairman of VNISA Nguyen Thanh Hung emphasised that caring for and protecting children in the online environment is the responsibility of the entire society. The club supports the implementation of the Government's plan entitled "Programme to protect and support children in healthy and creative interactions in the online environment for 2021 - 2025". The club will be a place to attract Vietnamese and international organizations to actively participate in VNISA’s child protection activities and will be the core for VNISA to deploy child protection activities, Hung said. Along with the determination of the club members as well as the support from the associations and organisations, the VCSC wishes to create useful value, and contribute to building a safe digital space for all Vietnamese children. With the rapid development of information technology and the internet, children face many risks, including cyber-bullying. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reported that one in five young people said they have been a victim of online bullying. Statistics show that about 750,000 sexual predators worldwide are online at any given moment, and over 3 million accounts are registered across the 10 most harmful child sexual abuse sites. According to reports of the national emergency telephone number for child protection, 111, it received nearly 420 calls about child protection in the online environment and 18 notifications about channels or video clips with harmful content for children in 2022. The figures in the first five months of this year were 128 calls and three notifications. VCSC will be responsible for researching and proposing the development of state policies and legal documents regarding online child protection. The club will also take responsibility for communicating and raising awareness and skills on online child protection, and promoting the creation of content to support healthy child interactions online in various forms. In addition, VCSC will also help VNISA to develop basic standards for child protection products and services, and contribute to expanding the market for Vietnamese businesses to support children to have healthy interactions online. At the launch ceremony, delegates also participated in the panel discussion themed "Supporting children to prevent fraud, online bullying and Internet addiction", along with representatives from the Department of Child Affairs, Department of Information Security and other organizations and businesses./.