As chair of the Inter-agency Council Against Child Pornography (IACACP), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is encouraging the millennial generation to take part in the project #StopChildPornPH, that it will launch this year.

“The Department is intensifying its campaign on online child abuse which remains a serious global issue, more so in the Philippines with poor families being lured to engage in this illicit trade because of the easy profits,” DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said.

The project is a child online protection education website providing safety education for children, parents/guardians and service providers  who will promote, advocate and build capabilities of all child duty-bearers.

It aims to raise awareness that it is everyone’s responsibility to protect children in the use of information and communication technology (ICT).

A major component of the project involves developing web and mobile platforms, applications, and services where prevention and advocacy along child online protection will be hosted.

“This is why we are engaging the youth because of their exposure to various online technologies and knowledge in ICT,” Sec. Soliman said.

To raise the awareness of the youth sector on the campaign, DSWD  has launched a contest dubbed as “Hackathon”. Its goal is to come up with accessible and user-friendly computer and mobile applications which will make reporting of child cyber pornography incidents easier.

The Hackathon that will run until February 19, is participated in by information technology students from colleges and universities in Metro Manila.

The winning entries shall be used by the DSWD and IACACP’s continued advocacy against child pornography. ###