The 17 – year-old Sadat Rahman from Bangladesh was honored with this year’s Children’s Peace Prize for his work against cyber bullying and online crime. Rahman received the prestigious award from the Netherlands-based KidsRights foundation yesterday Friday; The ceremony took place online due to the Corona crisis.

Call for help via app “If I can protect teenagers from cyberbullying, why can’t others do the same,” said the young man, according to the foundation. He developed the “Cyber ​​Teens” app, which children and young people in his home region of Narail can use to report bullying attacks and other criminal activities confidentially to a team of volunteers. The team then ensures that the police take action in an emergency. Several perpetrators have already been arrested.

The idea for the app and the establishment of the helper group came to Rahman after he was told by a 15 -year-old girl heard about suicide after bullying attacks on the Internet. According to experts, many young victims of cyberbullying do not receive any help because they do not dare to inform the police or their parents out of shame and insecurity.

The prize was symbolically presented by the Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who 2013, as a 16 – year-old, too was honored by KidsRights. She had campaigned for girls in her home country to have access to education and was seriously injured in a Taliban assassination attempt. Last year, the Swedish climate protection activist Greta Thunberg received the Children’s Peace Prize. The award is endowed with 100. 000 euros, which can be used for projects. Rahman said he wanted to use the money to further develop his app.

(dwi)