The dangers posed to minors from sexual and other forms of abuse are highlighted at a conference in Cairo, reports Amany Abdel-Moneim To protect abused and vulnerable children the honorary board of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) found themselves obliged to cross borders and intensify efforts to work on well-designed strategies in a conference marking their first- ever meeting in the Middle East and Africa region. Under the theme "Crossing Borders to Protect the Children of the World" Egypt's first lady, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, hosted last week's gathering in Cairo that was jointly organised by the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement (SMWIPM) and ICMEC. Addressing the opening session Mrs Mubarak, who is president of SMWIPM and a member of ICMEC honorary board, highlighted the urgent need to enhance people's awareness about the gravity of the problem posed by the exploitation of minors. Referring to the psychological and physical problems suffered by children in Gaza Mrs Mubarak said that "we will never achieve sustainable peace as long as our children are trapped in a vicious cycle of violence and abuse." Almost 200 child protection officials attended the conference which focussed on three issues: cyber safety and the global epidemic of Internet child pornography, effective legislation against child pornography and ongoing efforts to adopt legislation around the world to prevent the exploitation of children; and cooperation between legal systems and the need to work in a collaborative manner to develop jurisdictional approaches to protect children on a global basis. Mrs Mubarak stressed that Egypt was committed to halting the abduction and abuse of children and pledged to work towards gathering the resources to tackle the problem effectively. "Egypt is working on an initiative on ways to combat child kidnappings and their exploitation within the framework of its long-term efforts to maintain secure and healthy communities," Mrs Mubarak said. Ernie Allen, president and chief executive officer of the ICMEC, an international private non-profit association, insisted the theme of Crossing Borders to Protect Children was an ideal choice for the historic meeting. "No person, no nation, no organisation can do independently what all people, all nations and all organisations must do together," he said. Allen spoke about child abduction and exploitation in 17 countries, before noting the "enormous strides" Egypt has taken in fighting this phenomenon. "Egypt has achieved some outstanding developments in fighting child pornography and abuse," he said, though he was aware that, like many other countries, Egypt does not have "adequate statistics" covering child pornography. In its battle against exploitation ICMEC has organised a special training programme covering cyber crimes, given by experts to police officers in 113 countries, including Egypt. According to Allen, the aim is "to create a cadre of experts who are specially trained and equipped to deal with this type of crime". In the words of Baron Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer, chairman of the ICMEC board of directors, "our challenge is not just to increase awareness and persuade individual governments to act. If we are to truly be successful, we must launch a global movement." The Internet has created an exciting new world of knowledge and communication for anyone with access to online services. While the technology offers unparalleled opportunities for children and adults to learn about the world in which we live, the development and increasing accessibility of Internet enabled tools have, unfortunately, increased the ease of possession and dissemination of harmful and exploitive materials. Microsoft's Tim Cranton, associate general counsel for Worldwide Internet Safety, addressed the board of the ICMEC and explained that the work that Mrs Mubarak has done with the Cyber Peace Initiative is an excellent example of international cooperation that spans law enforcement as well as the public and private sectors. "This is critical to our success and vital to stopping this pandemic," he added. Research into the existence of child pornography legislation in the 187 Interpol member countries revealed that 94 countries have no legislation that specifically addresses child pornography, making prosecution of those who would harm children difficult, if not impossible. Mrs Mubarak crowned the conference by announcing the Cairo Declaration on behalf of the ICMEC honorary board. Under the new declaration Egypt has officially joined the global battle against child exploitation, calling for new legislation, the revision of current laws involving children and the initiating of a global movement to protect children. The declaration urges international leaders and organisations to join forces and act together in prioritising the issue of child abuse, launching a global awareness campaign and developing new techniques and technologies to secure greater protection for children. It also calls for expanded efforts to build new national and regional centres around the world to better address the problems posed by the abduction and exploitation of children. The declaration calls for "bilateral and multilateral approaches to resolving family disputes" to be explored in order to ensure that children are not the victims of their parents' bad decisions, surroundings or circumstances. The goal is to develop new tools and technologies to protect children and enhance efforts to ensure that technology is not used as a tool to exploit and victimise them. The ICMEC honorary board attendees included, in addition to Mrs Mubarak and Allen, Queen Paola of the Belgians, Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco, Sheikha Sabeeka bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, wfe of the Bahraini monarch, Mrs Margarida Sousa Uva Barroso, wife of the president of the European Commission, Mrs Bernadette Chirac, former French first lady and the honourable Valentina Matvienko, Governor of Saint Petersburg. This was the third meeting of the ICMEC honorary board. Bernadette Chirac hosted the previous meeting in 2007 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. The first meeting was hosted by Queen Paola of Belgium in 2004.
