Teen wins prize for cyber-bullying app
A BANGLADESHI teenager made an impassioned plea last Friday (13) for stronger global action against cyber-bullying and online crime involving children as he received a prestigious global children’s award.
Sadat Rahman, 17, won the 2020 KidsRights International Children’s Peace Prize for developing a mobile app to help teenagers report cyberbullying and cyber crime in his western district of Narail in Bangladesh.
Previous winners include Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai and environmental activist Greta Thunberg. “Serious action needs to be taken right now. Teenagers continue to remain vulnerable to online crime and cyber-bullying, par
ticularly in the times we live in,” Rahman said in a remote interview.
Rahman was awarded the prize, which is run by the Netherlands-based KidsRights foundation, in a ceremony. He beat two other finalists – Mexican girl Ivanna Ortega Serret, 12, who fought water pollution, and Irish 18-yearold Siena Castellon, who
created a website to help pupils with autism and learning disabilities
Rahman’s “Cyber Teens” mobile app puts children in touch with a team of youngsters including Rahman, who call themselves the Narail Volunteers. The Narail Volunteers then liaised with local police and social workers to help teens too scared or embarrassed to report cyber-bullying and cyber crime.
The app also gives hints and tips about online behaviour and how to avoid sexual predators.
Downloaded around 1,800 times, the app has helped to resolve more than 60 complaints so far – and has led to the arrest of eight suspected criminals, including adults who have been sexually harassing children. “The idea started after a 15-year-old girl committed suicide because of online bullying,” Rahman.
Rahman said he planned to use his prize, which includes a 100,000 euro (£ 89,574) investment for projects, to further develop the app across Bangladesh “and hopefully to serve as a model for the rest of the world.”