ACTSEC and Youth Group launch “Make the Internet Safe for Children” campaign in Albania Tirana, 11 March 2008 - Under the framework of the National Campaign "Make the Internet Safe for Children" the Albanian Coalition against Child Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (ACTSEC), the ACTSEC Youth Group and CRCA / DCI Albania organised an Open Forum with students from the University of Tirana.

The forum is part of the awareness campaign that the organisations are implementing in Albania aiming to raise the awareness of the public and professionals in Albania and protect children from pornography on the Internet. The initiative is supported by ECPAT International.

"Today the internet has become a major information and communication tool for people all over the world, by breaking all the barriers of control or censorship over information - said Altin Hazizaj, Director of CRCA / DCI Albania - however at the same time it represents a danger to children when it comes to child pornography on the Internet. For this it is very important that professionals all over Albania are made aware of positive and negative consequences that internet use may have on children."

The aim of the forum is to raise awareness among the students of the School of Social Sciences of the University of Tirana, who will become future professionals who work with children at different levels. Participants were from several schools of the university such as social work, psychology and philosophy.

The ACTSEC Youth group was established by more than 15 students from the Social Sciences and Law School of the University of Tirana. The aim of the ACTSEC Youth Group is to support and advise the Coalition on their initiatives against child sexual exploitation, child trafficking and child pornography on the Internet, while at the same time to represent young people in the work of the Coalition in a broader sense.

The Forum featured several presentations from ACTSEC Youth Group members, a role-play and several debates on major areas of concern with child pornography on the internet. A part of the discussions focused also on what professionals could do to protect children from pornography.