Bangladeshi teen wins prestigious global children’s award for online fight

Bangladeshi teenager Sadat Rahman made an impassioned plea Friday for stronger global action against cyberbullying and online crime involving children as he received a prestigious global children’s award.

Sadat, 17, won the 2020 KidsRights International Children’s Peace Prize for developing a mobile app to help teenagers report cyberbullying and cyber crime in his western district of Narail in Bangladesh, AFP reports.

Previous winners of the prize include Nobel laureate and Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai and environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

“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 told AFP in a remote interview.

Rahman was awarded the prize, which is run by the Netherlands-based KidsRights foundation, in a ceremony streamed online due to coronavirus restrictions.

He beat two other finalists – Mexican girl Ivanna Ortega Serret, 12, who fought water pollution, and Irish 18-year-old Siena Castellon, who created a website to help pupils with autism and severe learning disabilities

Rahman’s “Cyber Teens” mobile app puts children in touch with a team of youngsters including Rahman, who call themselves the Narail Volunteers.

The Narail Volunteers then liaised with local police and social workers to help teens too scared or embarrassed to report acts of cyberbullying and cyber crime.

The app also gives helpful hints and tips about online behaviour and how to avoid sexual predators.