Over 30% of Croatian secondary school students have been witness to their peers secretly photographing others when those persons were naked, inappropriately dressed or during a sexual act and then sharing those photos on the internet, the Centre for Missing and Exploited Children warned on Monday.

These are, the Centre stressed, just some of the results of a study called DeShame Croatia, the first systematical international study of risky behaviour of high school students and exposure to harmful content and sexual harassment online.

Croatia fourth country to conduct study in secondary schools

Croatia is, the Centre said, the fourth country, after Denmark, Hungary and the United Kingdom, in which this study of the Safer Internet Centre (CSI) was carried out, in cooperation with secondary schools from the entire country.

On the occasion of Safer Internet Day, the Centre announced that the DeShame Croatia study would be presented at Zagreb’s Hall of Game on Tuesday.

The public will be addressed by the head of the Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Tomislav Ramljak, A1 Hrvatska corporate communications director Dubravka Stefanac-Vinovrski, Lucija Vejmelka of Social Work Study Centre at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb and Miroslav Rajter, the head of the research office at the University of Zagreb.

Safer Internet Day will be marked with a programme that starts tomorrow morning with an online quiz for children and young people, which will be followed by a press conference and the presentation of the preliminary results of the study, as well as a panel discussion with influencers and the presentation of the project Influencer Academy.

The programme ends with a webinar on the role of experts in the area of the risky behaviour of children and young people on the internet.

Better internet for everyone, especially youngest users

The Centre said that the slogan of this year’s international Safer Internet Day, 8 February, was “Together for a better internet”, calling on everyone to work together and contribute to creating a better internet for everyone, especially the youngest users.

Those who suspect violence on the internet are invited to dial 0800 606 606, a toll-free and anonymous number for help and support in case of violence over the internet, and to report illegal content via csi.hr.

The Centre for Missing and Exploited Children is a non-profit organisation established in Osijek in 2006.

The motive for founding the Centre was the insufficient protection of children from sexual abuse and the distribution of such material over the internet and from other forms of neglect and abuse, as well as the phenomenon of missing children.

Civic activism has resulted in an enthusiastic team of experts who have carried out and will carry out many projects for the protection of children and their rights, the Centre said.