Madame Chirac Makes Historic Appeal to End Global Child Exploitation

CEO Of Leading Children's Organization Briefs Queens and First Ladies In Paris On Missing and Sexually Exploited Children



Madame Chirac Makes Historic Appeal to End Global Child Exploitation

ALEXANDRIA, Va. and PARIS, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ernie
Allen, the President and CEO of the International Centre for Missing &
Exploited Children (ICMEC), based in Alexandria, Virginia, today briefed
queens and first ladies from eight nations on the issue of missing,
abducted and sexually exploited children. The meeting was hosted by First
Lady of the Republic of France, Bernadette Chirac, at the Elysee Palace in
Paris, and was attended by Laura Bush, the First Lady of the United States;
Queen Silvia of Sweden; Queen Paola of Belgium; Lyudmila Putin, the First
Lady of Russia; Suzanne Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt; Jolanta
Kwasniewska, the former First Lady of Poland; Margarida Sousa Uva Barroso,
the wife of the President of the European Commission and former First Lady
of Portugal; and Valentina Matvienko, the former Deputy Prime Minister of
the Russian Federation and current Governor of St. Petersburg. Allen's
briefing took place during a meeting of the organization's Honorary Board
of Directors.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Madame Chirac issued an historic
"Declaration de Paris," calling upon all European Union Member States to
unite in the protection of children worldwide.
Allen, who is also President and CEO of ICMEC's sister organization in
the U.S., the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC),
reported, "We are witnessing an explosion in child sexual exploitation
worldwide. The statistics regarding the number of missing, abducted, and
sexually exploited children around the world are alarming."
He stated that leading scholars indicate that 1 in 5 girls, and 1 in 10
boys, will be sexually victimized in some way before they reach the age of
18. The most recent studies indicate that nearly two million children are
being used in the commercial sex trade, including some as young as 14
months of age.
He also discussed the impact of the Internet on child sexual
exploitation. In a very short time, child pornography has become a
multi-billion dollar commercial industry, perhaps the fastest growing
business on the Internet. Yet, a 2005 review by ICMEC of existing child
pornography laws in the 186 member countries of Interpol found that 95
nations had no law at all on child pornography and 136 nations do not make
it a crime to possess child pornography.
In 2006, a Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography was created by
ICMEC and NCMEC with a goal of eradicating commercial child pornography by
2008, following the money and stopping payments. Participants in the
coalition include 29 of the world's leading financial and Internet
companies who, in an unprecedented move, have pledged to work together to
shut down these Internet websites. Members of the Coalition include America
Online, American Express, Bank of America, Chase Bank, Citigroup, Deutsche
Bank, Google, HSBC, MasterCard, Microsoft, Standard Chartered Bank, Visa,
and Yahoo, among others.
Microsoft is also working with ICMEC to provide training on computer-
facilitated crimes against children. To date, in partnership with Interpol,
ICMEC has trained law-enforcement officials from 96 countries.
Still more needs to be done. Allen outlined four recommendations.

(1) Improve the ability of every nation to protect its children by
creating better reporting and creating new centers focusing on
abduction and exploitation before human tragedies occur;

(2) Engage and mobilize the media and other private sector companies to
offer assistance in finding missing children. Protecting the world's
children cannot be left solely to governments;

(3) Continue to disrupt the efforts of those who use the Internet to
exploit and victimize children by eliminating the profitability of
child pornography;

(4) Raise awareness about these issues among world leaders and persuade
them to enact and enforce stricter laws that crack down on child
pornography and exploitation.
"In a civilized society, if our children are not safe, then nothing
else matters," stated Allen. "These are among the most powerful,
influential and respected women in the world. I am confident that their
message today will mobilize many nations to take swift action to eradicate
these insidious acts against children."
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children is a private,
nonprofit 501(c)(3) nongovernmental organization. It is the leading agency
working on a global basis to combat child abduction and exploitation. It is
the sister organization of the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children. For more information, visit http://www.icmec.org.



SOURCE International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children