A 17-year-old Bangladeshi teenager has been awarded a prestigious global children’s award for taking action against cyberbullying and an online crime against children.Sadat Rahman has been conferred with the 2020 KidsRights International Children’s Peace Prize for achievement only few can think about. Rahman developed a mobile app to help teenagers report cyberbullying and cybercrime in the western district of Narail in Bangladesh.
“Serious action needs to be taken right now. Teenagers continue to remain vulnerable to online crime and cyberbullying, particularly in the times we live in,” Rahman said in a remote interview.
The ceremony, hosted by a Netherlands-based KidsRights foundation, was held online this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Rahman has followed the footsteps of Nobel laureate and Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai and the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.His mobile app is called “Cyber Teens” and puts children in contact with a team of youngsters, termed as Narail Volunteers. Rahman, too, is a part of this team of volunteers. This team then gets in contact with the local police officers and social workers and helps the victims out of situations of cyberbullying.
“The idea started after a 15-year-old girl committed suicide because of online bullying,” Rahman said. “I decided that teenagers needed help and that we should take action to try to avoid other children facing the same tragedy.”
