A/HRC/28/55 93. The Guidelines for Parents, Guardians and Educators on Child Online Protection, prepared by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),29 offer useful guidance on ways to ensure the safety and security of computers in the home and to establish rules on ICT use through discussions with children. The guidelines recommend, for example, never disclosing private information or arranging to meet someone children may have encountered online, and highlighting the risks of posting photographs on the Internet. Information is also included on filtering, blocking and monitoring programmes to help to prevent access to information that is harmful to children. Capitalizing on schools’ potential 94. Schools have unique potential to promote non-violent behaviour and to support changes in attitudes that condone violence. Through quality education, children can gain the skills and abilities to surf cyberspace with confidence, avoid and address risks, and become well-informed and responsible digital citizens. Digital literacy skills enhance creativity, self-expression, interpersonal relations and the sense of empowerment to prevent and address incidents of online violence. 95. Accessing ICTs and promoting digital literacy in schools can also leverage efforts aimed at children’s social inclusion and narrow the digital divide affecting the most vulnerable children, those who are otherwise less likely to enjoy the benefits of new technologies or access information promoting safe Internet use. 96. Especially in remote areas, schools can also become a bridge between a child’s home and community, an environment where students, parents and other community members meet to gain digital literacy and confidence, and to benefit from ICT-based training on life skills, social and economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. 97. That process is, however, largely dependent on the extent to which teachers themselves understand the online environment and have the necessary skills and training to advise, guide, empower and support children and young people, to identify early signals of abuse, and to report and follow up on such cases in an ethical and child-sensitive manner. That is an area in which more investment is needed. Joining efforts with civil society 98. Through information, capacity-building and research initiatives, operating helplines and providing support to child victims, and through support to policy and legislative reforms, civil society partners play a decisive role in national and international efforts that seek to build a safe online environment for children. 99. In many countries, cooperation with civil society organizations has been critical to widen online literacy and safety among children and their families, and to promote responses to harm. It has also helped to capture children’s experiences, fears, expectations and online behaviour through surveys conducted with young people. Those efforts have in turn informed important advocacy and action by children themselves. 100. Civil society organizations have an extraordinary networking capacity and can become strategic partners in initiatives led by governments and other stakeholders, at national and international levels. Their expertise, programmes, data and advocacy materials should be made more widely known in order to support others and benefit the maximum number of children. 29 16 See www.itu.int/en/cop/Documents/guidelines-educ-e.pdf.