On November 28, 2019, a symposium on "Improving Children's Digital Literacy to Address Cyberbullying" was successfully held in Berlin, Germany. This symposium is one of the 65 symposiums of the Fourteenth United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF). It is co-organized by the China Federation of Internet Societies and UNICEF China. The symposium aims at reinforcing international cooperation in protection and joint efforts to address the threats and challenges to the healthy growth of children caused by cyberbullying and other issues. The meeting invited guests from different countries and organizations to jointly discuss the important role and implementation of children's digital literacy education in solving the problem of cyberbullying, and contribute Chinese wisdom and strength to global Internet governance.
The symposium was hosted by Su Wenying, a child protection officer of the UNICEF Office in China, and representative of CFIS introduced a related investigation report on Chinese children's cyberbullying in 2019, which was assisted by Zuoyebang. Gao Mengchen, a child representative from Beijing Eleventh Middle School, shared the story from a child perspective. Steven Vosloo, UNICEF digital policy expert, Jutta Croll, chair of the NGO Digital Opportunity Foundation sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and Family Affairs, Kamala Adhikari, an expert on the protection of children and women's rights in cyberspace in the Nepal Digital Equality Forum, discussed the emergence and harms of cyberbullying from the perspectives of the government and social organizations, as well as the importance and implementation of digital literacy education. Zhao Chengcheng, a member of Tencent's "Penguin Companion Growth" project and senior lecturer in "Tencent Security Class", shared Tencent's practice and experience in helping children improve their digital literacy education to cope with cyberbullying.
The symposium pointed out the urgency and necessity of the international community to solve and prevent the problem of cyberbullying for children, hoping to promote cooperation between various stakeholders and promote the integration of digital literacy education in school curricula according to their own circumstances, preventing the problems from its source. The IGF is an important platform established by the United Nations since 2006. The 14th IGF was held in Berlin, Germany, from November 25th to 29th. The theme of this forum is "One World, One Net., One Vision", which aims to discuss global Internet policy trends, legislative processes and best cases, analyze new opportunities and challenges facing the Internet sector, and fully tap into the future potential of the Internet. UN Secretary-General Guterres, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and UN Deputy Secretary-General Liu Zhenmin attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Representatives of governments, officials of United Nations system agencies, outstanding business leaders in the industry, representatives of civil society organizations, well-known scholars and mainstream international media attended the forum.