Safer Internet Center, Viguías

The Internet has been incorporated into the lives of children and adolescents for a long time now; this incorporation was gradual until the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, where migration to the digital environment was absolute and at a speed that exponentially increased the risks for children under 18 years of age. Internet access is also a right for children and adolescents, so we must ensure that it is a safe space for them to take advantage of it in the best way. The hotline Te Protejo Colombia has received 163,201 reports since the beginning of its operation in 2012 (updated March 2023) 82% of these correspond to situations of threat or violation of rights on the Internet, which shows the need to ensure that the Internet is a safe place for children and adolescents. Every relevant actor, including industry, governments, authorities, and civil society, has a role to play in ensuring that the Internet is a safe and reliable place.

Increased exposure to electronic devices and the Internet by children and adolescents entails a series of risky situations, among which are the intense desire to be connected for prolonged periods, the loss or neglect of usual interests and activities, the progressive loss of control over one's behavior, and the increased possibility of incurring different types of risks,  such as (Internet Segura For Kids, 2021):

• Behavioral risks: sexting, challenges and dangerous trends, loss of personal information. 

• Contact risks: grooming, sexual exploitation, blackmail or extortion, unwanted sexual interactions. 

• Contractual or contract risks: unfair terms and conditions, inappropriate business, or pressures for compulsive use of games or other platforms. 

• Content risks: exposure to age-inappropriate content such as early-age pornography or Sexually Exploitative Material.

Viguías, the first Safe Internet Center for Spanish-speaking Latin America, seeks to guide the safe and creative use of the Internet, to prevent and protect children and adolescents from digital risks. Viguías is composed of 4 programs, each one carrying out a specific purpose:

Te Protejo: Virtual hotline for the protection of Colombian children and adolescents.

• Te Protejo has been operating as a reporting hotline in Colombia since 2012.

• Member of INHOPE since 2016, allowing international articulation between 50 lines dedicated to eliminating illegal content.

• We support local authorities.

• We have a 30% annual growth in reports.

• Te Protejo strengthens the capacities of authorities and analysts in Colombia for the analysis of Sexual Exploitation Material and threats or violations of rights in the digital environment.

Te Guío: Helpline for counseling on harmful sexual behaviors in adolescents.

• We offer the services of resolution of doubts and tele guidance about these behaviors.

• We have the following channels of attention 

  • Website: www.teguiocolombia.org

  • Instagram and Facebook: teguio.viguias

  • Twitter: TeGuio_Viguias

  • WhatsApp: 314 8210435

  • Phone line: 01 800 519 0690

• We are part of Child Helpline International, the international association of helplines for children and adolescents.

• We have the support and advice of international organizations such as Protect Children (Finland), Stop It Now! (UK, Ireland and USA) and CAMH (Canada).

Tú Lideras: Youth Initiatives Network of social organizations and educational institutions that support young people.

• We promote spaces for discussion by and for young people to guarantee genuine and meaningful child and youth participation.

• We articulate and strengthen groups of youth initiatives at the national level. 

• We rely on local allies. 

• We document experiences and support initiatives to serve as prevention content for more young people.

Knowledge Center: Guiding children and adolescents in the safe and creative Internet use and preventing digital risks.

• We rely on the best available scientific evidence without conflict of interest and proven best practices.

• We have an expert technical and communications team producing and editing content. 

• We generate an alliance network with academia.

• We conduct research focused on recognized trends in digital environments.

• We address different audiences: mothers, fathers, caregivers, educators, and young people. 

• We promote the safe use of the Internet and channels for reporting, denunciation, and help.

The users who report situations that threaten or violate children's and adolescents' rights on the Internet to Te Protejo are:

• 37% of children and adolescents who are victims of the situation

• 21% of the victims' mothers or fathers

• 19% of institutions like schools or health institutions.

Te Protejo receives all kinds of reports of threats and violations of the rights of children under 18 years of age in Colombia. Regarding the digital environment, 82% of the victims of these situations are adolescent girls and women, compared to 8.4% of young boys and men. It is also evident that the age of greatest vulnerability is between 11 and 14 years old (77.75% of cases).

Te Guío is a helpline aiming to guide anyone concerned about harmful sexual behavior in adolescents. Since October 2022, the line has received 21 contacts, of which 15 were successfully attended. Of these, 33% were family members or teachers inquiring about an adolescent, while 13% were adolescents asking about themselves. Of these, 13% were age-appropriate behaviors, 50% were inappropriate situations, and 38% were problematic conduct.

In the network of youth initiatives Tú Lideras, the beneficiaries are individuals between 9 and 18 years of age who wish to influence their context to transform realities and improve conditions for their communities. These young people are part of social organizations or educational institutions and have initiatives to guarantee their rights. 

Based on the situations identified through the Te Protejo hotline, Te Guío helpline, and the Tú Lideras network of youth initiatives, The Knowledge Center generate recommendations, alerts, bulletins, conferences, and podcasts, helping mothers, fathers, and caregivers in their role of guarding children's and adolescents rights. 

Likewise, Red PaPaz is a network formed by 586 educational institutions in 23 of the 32 departments of Colombia. Through this network, we distribute the contents we create, reaching around 828.087 parents and caregivers, helping us advocate to protect children and adolescents' rights. These contents are disseminated through our social networks, communities of practice on Whatsapp with the schools that belong to the network, fairs, in-person and digital events, among others. 

Social Media: 104.005 Facebook followers, 31.657 Twitter followers, 49.904 Instagram followers, and 37.300 YouTube subscriber

Red PaPaz is a Colombian not-for-profit organization that encompasses a network of parents and caregivers to advocate for the rights of children and adolescents and strengthen adults and relevant social actors' capacities to ensure their effective implementation. 

Since its incorporation in 2003, Red PaPaz has implemented strategic actions to protect children and adolescents from some risks they might face (junk food, tobacco, E-Cigarettes/ENDS, illegal drugs, inappropriate content, internet safety, amongst others). Likewise, it has developed initiatives aimed at promoting digital safety for children.

The Te Protejo reporting line has been operating in Colombia for 11 years, receiving a total of 160,578 reports, 72% of these channeled through third parties, including local authorities and international third parties such as INHOPE, NCMEC, and trusted partner programs such as Meta, Tik Tok, Google, Twitter, and YouTube. 

From these, 123,931 reports correspond to children and adolescents' sexual abuse material (child pornography crime). Based on these reports, Te Protejo has requested the removal of more than 65,919 websites across the Internet and helped to block 31,766 websites in Colombia.

The network of youth initiatives, Tú Lideras, aims to encourage young people to exercise their right to genuine and meaningful participation. To this end, we strengthen the capacities of the adults accompanying them and generate four spaces for participation:

1. Training in leadership skills, spokespersonship, active citizenship, and digital citizenship 

2. Spaces to share experiences with other young people 

3. We provide the opportunity to talk with scholars on different topics and decision-makers 

4. We promote social mobilizations and active citizen involvement.

In Colombia, the Viguías Safe Internet Center also participates in the Cundinamarca Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, the National Internet Governance Board, the Committee on National Criteria for Web Pages with Material on Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, the District Network of Channels for Psychosocial Care and Access to Justice, and leads the ICT and Childhood Board.

Although Colombia has committed to increasing Internet coverage, it is vital that in parallel to this access, citizens have digital literacy, especially the ones that contribute to protecting children and adolescents on the Internet. This literacy should include knowledge of digital risks and how to prevent and manage them. We all must recognize the protection role that all citizens must play with children under 18, recognize crimes against them, and have accessible tools to report these situations.

On the other hand, the Internet industry has a crucial role in ensuring this is a safe place for children and adolescents, like generating developments that implement tools to protect the information and navigation of people under 18. One of Colombia's main challenges is providing technical and technological resources for authorities, industry, and civil society in the fight against violence against children under 18 years of age on the Internet, especially regarding sexual violence.

We presented to Solve in the hope of expanding our partnerships with organizations working for child safety, especially in digital environments around the world, to strengthen our capabilities and our solutions proposal, as well as to find potential funding sources that will help us give the project long-term sustainability, and expanding our model through Latin America.

Viguías, the first Spanish-speaking safe Internet center in Latin America, seeks through its different programs to provide solutions on several fronts to the problems that have arisen from the misuse of the Internet by children and adolescents, thus providing a comprehensive approach to a problem that very few talk about.  

On the one hand, Te Protejo, the hotline, recognizes the crimes currently occurring in Colombia and Mexico through the Internet, which provides a line of approach to the other areas of Viguías. Te Guío brings together concerns about sexual behavior toward children and adolescents. The knowledge center researches the problems it encounters and generates helpful knowledge so that mothers, fathers, caregivers, and civil society are aware of and can prevent the risks to which children and adolescents are exposed on the Internet. Tu Lideras brings together youth initiatives, strengthens their skills, and enhances their initiatives for adolescents and young people to be protagonists in their environments, leading the changes they dream of while understanding and promoting safe navigation in digital environments and the protection of the rights of children, adolescents, and young people.

Likewise, Viguías includes data analysis, machine learning, and technology development projects to provide the different relevant actors with the best available technology to attack the sexual exploitation of children under 18 years of age, as well as enhance their problem approach.

Our main goal is to consolidate the first Spanish-speaking Safer Internet Center in Colombia to expand and implement the model throughout the Latin American region,  providing all relevant actors with the best available technology to attack the sexual exploitation of minors under 18 years of age throughout the region.  

INHOPE and EVAC are two key organizations for achieving this goal. Through INHOPE, we have access to a network of hotlines of pages and contents of child sexual exploitation worldwide,  spaces for the exchange of knowledge and discussion of issues relevant to these organizations, as well as spaces with experts who train us technically and technologically. EVAC is an important financial support that not only helps to initiate projects but also to seek their long-term sustainability. It also provides spaces for technical training with experts and exchanges with organizations with similar purposes in other parts of the world to share challenges and successful experiences.

These are some of the indicators we are using to measure our progress toward our impact goals:

• # of new technologies and tools identified for potentially being adopted in Colombia

• # of processes and protocols identified as priorities for adaptation to Colombia

• # of agreed processes and protocols to be adjusted and adopted in Colombia

• # of existing and analyzed processes, interchange of information points between relevant actors.

• # and description of tools, and technologies used in the existing processes

• # and characterization of automated processes

• # protocols, processes agreed between LEA and other stakeholders

• # and characterization of developed (tailored-made) technological tools

The Internet as a technological tool has been scene of threat or violation of the rights of children and adolescents, sexual violence being one of the worst forms of violation. In the fight against sexual exploitation, technology is also an ally, which is why the Safer Internet Center, Viguías by Red PaPaz, is committed to the identification and implementation of developments that aim to prevent, manage and minimize the impact of these forms of violence against people under 18 years of age. To date, Viguías has identified 37 tools, 30 of which have been prioritized for implementation in the Latin American context, starting with Colombia as a pilot country.

Some of these tools are:

• AviaTor (Augmented Visual Intelligence and Targeted Online Research)

• Arachnid Chrome Extension - ACE

• ICACCOPS ICAC Child On-line Protection System

• Griffeye – triage

• ICCAM

• Intelligrade 

• IWOL (INTERPOL Worst of List)

• "FAW FORENSIC ACQUISITION OF WEBSITES"

• TorBot

• International Child Sexual Exploitation database (ICSE)

• Atlas -Voyager

• Arachnid LEA Portal (Arthropod)

The resources for the support of Viguías come from two main sources: 

• Grants: Viguías is a Grantee of the End Violence Against the Children Fund through a grant amounting to USD 1'500,000 for 2021 - 2023. 

• Service delivery: Viguías, through its four components, provides analysis, training, and advisory services to organizations and companies in the social and technology sector, including: Together for Girls, Canadian Center for Child Protection, and Tik Tok, among others. In 2022, the income received for this concept amounted to USD 123,000.

We identified five sources of income with which Red PaPaz can leverage its funding strategy.

1. Funding for Red PaPaz: Funds contributed by institutions interested in sponsoring the fulfillment of the organization's mission.

2. Funding for specific projects: Funds by organizations interested in sponsoring particular projects.

3. Memberships: Funds obtained by the payment of educational institutions, care institutions and institutions, caregivers, and individuals.

4. Provision of Services: Funds received in exchange for services.

5. Microfinance: Funds received by individuals (e.g., parents or third parties).

For more than ten years, the organization has entered into different types of contracts of all kinds of values with national and international organizations and public entities to carry out projects for the benefit of children and adolescents in Colombia. For Viguías, we currently have the financial support of End Violence Against Children, with a three-year grant of 1.500,000 USD which started in 2021. We’ve also ventured into selling services like a consultancy for identifying risks in the Tik Tok platform and recommendations to guarantee the protection of children and adolescents on this platform.

Some grants received by Red PaPaz:

Bloomberg USD 1,800,000 - Media campaign to support actions for the promotion of healthy eating.

EVAC USD 1,500,000 Adaptation and adoption of technological tools to prevent, identify and investigate child sexual exploitation and abuse in digital environments in Colombia.

Open Society Foundations USD 200,000 Promoting the safe re-opening of in-person schooling and the adaptation and adoption of technological tools to prevent, identify and investigate child sexual exploitation and abuse in digital environments in Colombia.