One of the students who appears in the manipulated nude photos distributed by two classmates is leaving the school where the incident occurred: La Salle San Ildefonso School in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The minor, who is among the students featured in these images – three from La Salle and at least four from other educational institutions – said goodbye on Friday and has enrolled in another school in the capital of Tenerife due to the situation caused by the distribution of manipulated images through WhatsApp chats among students.
Her mother clarified that she had to transfer her daughter to another school because she was “being harassed by other students, a situation she believes was facilitated by the school’s inadequate involvement.”
The mother of this student, who reported the girl’s appearance in the mentioned photos to the National Police and the Education Inspection of the Ministry of Education as soon as she learned about the incident, has filed a complaint with the ombudsman about the inaction of La Salle School officials.
During a meeting with the Deputy for Equality of the Ombudsman, Beatriz Barrera, the mother expressed her disappointment at the lack of information provided by the school. She also complained that no action protocols were implemented “with the care and promptness required for an incident like this”. “I requested in writing that the student well-being and protection coordinator be activated but received no response,” she explains.
This citizen calls for educational measures focused on awareness and prevention, to protect minors and prevent similar incidents from happening.
During a meeting with the Deputy for Equality of the Ombudsman, the mother expressed her disappointment at the lack of information provided by the school
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The Deputy for Equality of the Ombudsman, Beatriz Barrera, stated that she will contact the relevant authority responsible for the management and direction of educational institutions “to find out what measures were taken following the incident and what follow-up was done to prevent situations of secondary victimization of the minor”. She also believes that “a policy of preventive education is necessary, focusing on the consequences of misusing these new technological tools”.
The incident was reported on the 8th. The Minors Group (Grume) of the National Police in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Prosecutor’s Office for Minors, and the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands launched an investigation into two secondary school students at La Salle for having these AI-altered images on their mobile phones of at least two classmates, as well as three or four other minors not affiliated with this school, and sharing them in WhatsApp groups.
The two students from La Salle San Ildefonso School in Santa Cruz de Tenerife under investigation cannot be charged with any crime as they are under 14 years old. This was confirmed by the Government Delegate in Canarias, Anselmo Pestana, after EL DÍA broke the news.
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Both these two secondary students and the three classmates featured in the images and other minors not related to the school who are also in the photos are between 12 and 14 years old. As the boys are 13 years old, they are not criminally responsible according to Spanish law; in other words, they cannot be subjected to the Criminal Code or the Minor’s Law even if it is proven that they committed an offense against decency. They can be held civilly responsible by those in charge of their care, in addition to the disciplinary measures imposed by the school, which can lead to a temporary or permanent expulsion.
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La Salle School has initiated disciplinary proceedings against the two students but has refused to provide further information on the consequences of their actions. “Our priority is to act in accordance with the protocol and protect the minors,” school authorities stated shortly after this episode became known.
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The case, the first of its kind in the region, has sparked a widespread outcry and calls for better protection of minors.
// additional code//The Individual Who Arrived at the Ministry of Education in the Government of the Canary Islands is Well-Known on the Islands. Sources from the regional Executive Department stated that the Educational Inspection opened an investigation, and the centre followed the protocol by reporting the incident to the Minors Prosecutor’s Office.
A meeting of the Common Council with the mother of one of the girls affected by the case at La Salle School. / El Día
The mother who recently brought her daughter’s case to the Office of the Ombudsman in the Canary Islands clarifies that the staff at La Salle took too long to report the case to the Minors Prosecutor’s Office, when they should have done so immediately upon learning about the dissemination of the doctored nude photos.
“I went to the Prosecutor’s Office in the days following, to introduce myself and let them know I was the mother of one of the girls depicted in those artificially manipulated images. They had no idea what I was talking about. They had not received any communication from the school,” she told EL DÍA.
The report from La Salle was entered into the Minors Prosecutor’s computer system, according to the mother who was informed by this special unit of the public ministry, the day after she filed her report at the National Police Station in Santa Cruz. The school’s management, on the other hand, believes that the protocol was indeed followed.
This woman from Tenerife has also requested a specific protocol for such cases, as she clarifies that the one applied in this situation is a generic one for cases of harassment related to gender-based violence.
The mother of one of the students calls for a specific protocol for such cases and awareness measures among students in Tenerife
The app used by students from the Tenerife school to fabricate nude images of their classmates is called ‘Undress’, and the only requirement to access it is to sign in with an email, accept cookies, and start using it.
That’s what two ESO students from La Salle School in Santa Cruz reportedly did, with photos of, as stated in the complaint, three classmates. The app is free and doesn’t even need to be downloaded; it can be used directly in the web browser of a mobile phone or computer.
