In an upcoming awareness campaign on safe chat, Save the Children Denmark will focus on mobile phones and cases in which online communication is used as a tool for the sexual abuse of children.

Kuno Sørensen, a programme coordinator and psychologist from Save the Children Denmark said, “Chat is an essential part of children’s every day life as a way of maintaining social relations. But along with the dissemination of mobile phones among children aged 10 and up, we see that the problems earlier associated with the use of chat rooms spread to new online technologies.”

Save the Children Denmark will re-launch their site on safe chat.  The focus will be on the meaning of chat in relation to teenagers’ exploration of their own infatuation and fascination of other people.

The safe chat site is built on true stories.  These are cases in which children have given away personal details in a chat environment.  They have then met up with online contacts who have turned out to be someone different, often much older, than they had expected.

In addition to the website for teenagers and chat, there will also be one for 10 year olds and another for parents, teachers, and educators in general. The campaign kicks off in April 2005.