Page 11 - Estonian-SIC-Smartly-on-the-Web-VII-Summary

The main problems that children contact the child helpline with are related to the relationship between children and their parents and their own mental health and well-being. There has also been an increase in the number of referrals where children are self-destructive (e.g. suicidal thoughts, self- injury). The main problems related to the use of digital technology were cyberbullying, unwanted contacts, sextortion and excessive Internet use.
Over the years, Lasteabi has developed and expanded its services according to society's needs and technology development. In 2021, an online therapist service was added. In 2023, sign language counselling and the possibility of booking an appointment in self-service for both sign language and online therapy services were added to the offered services, the website www.lasteabi.ee got a fresher look.
The Lasteabi team of the Social Insurance Board continues its active work with both consultations and awareness raising. During the project period, the Lasteabi team visited several schools and summer camps and shared knowledge about the service as well as about children in need and in emergency situations. Important topics were also covered by the Lasteabi podcast and the wider media.
Estonian hotline Vihjeliin (www.vihjeliin.ee)
The hotline is a free web-based service of the Estonian Unio for Child Welfare, the purpose of which is to contribute to the rapid identification and removal of child sexual abuse material from the Internet. Anyone who notices such material online can report it through the "Report Illegal Content" window on the website. In order to report, the address of the web page on which the internet user has noticed material presenting sexual abuse of children must be written in the form that opens in the window.
The address of the website provided in the notification will be opened and its content will be evaluated by the hotline in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Estonia. If the message received by the hotline contains information about an online environment that presents sexual abuse of children, the country of its location will be determined. If the country of residence is Estonia, the notification is sent to the contact person of the Police and Border Guard Board. If the country of residence of the website presenting the illegal material is not Estonia, but there is a hotline belonging to the international association INHOPE in that country, the information is transmitted to the hotline of that country via the INHOPE notification system. As a result of the notification, the illegal material will be removed from the Internet in cooperation with the law enforcement authorities of the country that received the notification and online service providers.
The Internet knows no national borders, and a photo or video uploaded in one country can be seen anywhere across the network. Therefore, cooperation between countries is important to stop the spread of material depicting the sexual abuse of children. The Estonian hotline has been part of the international association INHOPE since 2012, which currently connects 54 hotlines around the world. In the period 01.06.2022 - 30.04.2024, 1,974 messages were sent to the Estonian hotline via the website form and the INHOPE information exchange system, of which 964 messages contained information about the online environment where there was material presenting sexual abuse of children. More information can be found on the hotline statistics website.