Missing's clarion call for online safety of children

Missing, an organisation that's aiming to save a girl before she gets trafficked, has rolled out a film through which it aims to communicate the perils of social media on children.

Conceptualised by Qissé Films, the film shows the stories of two young children and how they're exploited by strangers who pose as friends on social media. It ends with the message that predators target children as young as nine year olds and shares the number of a helpline that can help them get out of this.

Leena Kejriwal, founder, Missing Link Trust, said, “Our children in India face the highest risk of online abuse in the world, with a child being either abused or going missing every 10 minutes. Films play a powerful role in building public awareness, which is the first step in prevention. Qissé’s impactful film will help us prevent online abuse by building awareness about the alarming statistics, and beginning a dialogue about the issue with parents, children, schools and the community at large. There is an urgent need for the public to get involved and help build a safer online world for our children.”

Luv Kalla and Richa Maheshwari, founders, Qissé Films, said, “We’ve all had worried conversations about our children spending more and more unsupervised time online. To make the online space safer for our kids, we need to get these conversations out of the living rooms and to the public forums. We at Qissé are glad to be able to create a film and aid Missing, who are doggedly working to raise awareness, educate and push for policy initiatives to create a safe online environment for our children.”

The film was published on 17 August. NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights) is supporting the cause. The film is playing across PVR theatres in the country.