Dylan Power
Friday, March 1st 2024
VSE Members News
Our Greek member, Smile of the Child, in collaboration with ‘The Smiling Hippo’, have launched a significant new online reporting tool. Called CyberTipline Hellas, this resource allows all citizens to report any incidents where a child’s rights are being violated, 24/7 and anonymously. Read more about this innovative project in their press release below.
CyberTipline Hellas is an online service that gives access to all citizens to easily, quickly and online, report incidents involving children whose rights are being violated and are at risk for any reason –physical abuse, sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, grooming, etc.– and is operated exclusively by the specialized staff of “The Smile of the Child”, psychologists and social workers of the Helpline for Children SOS 1056, who carry out all appropriate actions in the best interest of children.
Report here: https://www.hamogelo.gr/gr/en/cyber-tipline/
The aim is to examine all the information reported by citizens, to support the child who reports the incident -if he/she so wishes- and then to forward the collected information to the competent authorities -prosecutorial and police authorities- in cooperation with the competent public bodies (e.g. social services of municipalities) -who have the authority to take further action in order to investigate the report.
CyberTipline is an innovation, as it enables children and adults, who have a tip about a child at risk, to submit their report, with as much information as possible, from their personal safe space, answering to simple questions, but catalytically and substantially helping -without any further interaction- to potentially save another child!
Making a report is simple, easy, it takes 5 simple steps and a few minutes to be completed. It works:
· 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
· 365 days a year
· Anonymously
· No personal information
Watch the Spot: https://youtube.com/shorts/ECm4mmXznag?feature=share
CyberTipline Hellas is a tool of the Organization’s Specialized Centers, such as the Center for Health Services, the National Center for Abuse & Exploitation, the Hotlines & Helplines (1056,116000,116111,1017), the Center for Support of Vulnerable Families, Children & Youth, the Care Homes, the Center for Online Safety and the Center for Violence & Bullying.
The implementation of the CyberTipline Hellas application was successfully developed with the invaluable contribution of “The Smiling Hippo”, which responded immediately to the need of the Organization to bring this tool in Greece. We thank “The Smiling Hippo”, and its people, from the bottom of our hearts for their important contribution and help to save more children.
Upon the launch of CyberTipline Hellas, Mr. Costas Yannopoulos, President of the Board of Directors of “The Smile of the Child”, stated, “With CyberTipline Hellas we are moving into a new era. With the invaluable help of “The Smiling Hippo”, which undertook the development of CyberTipline Hellas, “Smile” now has another tool, not only for the elimination of sexual abuse, harassment, but also of violence, bullying and all issues that concern children. We thank our partners at “The Smiling Hippo” because without their trust we would not have this essential tool”.
Mr. Victor Simosis, Creative Managing Director of “The Smiling Hippo”, respectively, noted that “Whenever a wind rises, there are those who build walls to protect themselves and those who build windmills to harness the wind. With much pride and thrill we have watched over the years as the “Smile” has firmly and irrevocably belonged to the second group. Our collaboration with them, for almost 10 years now, in a variety of projects, fills us with honor, hope and optimism. No attempt at entrepreneurship can ever succeed if the communities around them are failing. And with CyberTipline Hellas, by translating the signs of the times early enough, “Smile” is again working on exactly that: to create successful societies: with healthy smiley children. With that curved line in their mouths that has so much power to set all things straight! The size of each of our social responsibility is no longer measured by the least bad we do, but by how much more good we do. And CyperTipline Hellas from “Smile” is that “more good” that we need. We thank “Smile” and its President Mr. Costas Yannopoulos for honoring us with their trust and giving us the opportunity to contribute in our own way”.
CyberTipline has been successfully implemented for years by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the U.S.https://report.cybertip.org/, as a centralized reporting system for behaviors related to online child exploitation. According to 2022 CyberTipline’s reports, the country received 43,345 reports of online child exploitation in Greece. Watch here:https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/missingkids/pdfs/2022-reports-by-country.pdf
In Greece, CyberTipline Hellas operates in the framework of the long-standing collaboration of “The Smile of the Child” and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) on missing and abused children, and based on a relevant license agreement.
Make your report online to save another child!
More about “The Smiling Hippo”:https://www.thesmilinghippo.com/
Read the original press release here.
