The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), headquartered in
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
, with a regional presence in Brazil, Singapore, and Australia, is a private
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
non-governmental,
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
global organization. It combats
child sexual exploitation
Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the prostitution of ...
,
child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
, and
child abduction.
Formed in 1998, ICMEC heads a global missing children's network of 29 countries. The organization has trained law enforcement personnel from 121 countries, works with law enforcement in over 100 countries, and has worked with legislatures in 100 countries to adopt new laws combating child sexual abuse material. ICMEC also encourages the creation of national operational centers built on a
public-private partnership model, and leads global financial and industry coalitions to eradicate child sexual exploitation and child pornography.
The Koons Family Institute on International Law and Policy is the International Centre's research arm. In August 2008, ICMEC was granted "Special Consultative Status" by the
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), to assist the UN with its expertise regarding child sexual exploitation and child abduction. ICMEC also works with the
intergovernmental organization
Globalization is social change associated with increased connectivity among societies and their elements and the explosive evolution of transportation and telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various typ ...
INTERPOL
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
, the inter-continental organization the
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...
(the OAS), and the
Hague Conference on Private International Law.
History
In 1998, the Board of Directors of the United States'
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the Pres ...
(NCMEC) approved the creation of the International Centre; the two now act as sister organizations.
ICMEC combats
child sexual exploitation
Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the prostitution of ...
,
child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
, and
child abduction.
ICMEC held its first Board of Directors meeting in May 1998. It was officially launched in April 1999 at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., by
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, then-
First Lady of the United States
The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...
, and
Cherie Blair
Cherie, Lady Blair, (; born 23 September 1954), also known professionally as Cherie Booth, is an English barrister and writer. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Tony Blair.
Early life and education
Booth ...
, wife of then-
British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
.
[
Ernie Allen served as President & CEO of both NCMEC and ICMEC for 15 years. Allen retired from NCMEC in 2012, and in 2014 announced his retirement from ICMEC as well.] In 2014, Ambassador Maura Harty
Maura Ann Harty (born 1959) was United States Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs from November 21, 2002 to February 29, 2008. She was a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. She was then the President and CEO of the Mid-Atl ...
was appointed President & CEO of ICMEC. Robert Cunningham was appointed President and CEO in 2019.
Board of directors
The Board of Directors of ICMEC includes: Franz Humer
Franz Bernhard Humer (born 1 July 1946, in Salzburg, Austria) is a Swiss-Austrian businessman, and the former chairman of Diageo, and of Roche.
Life and career
Humer studied law at the University of Innsbruck and later obtained a doctorate in l ...
, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (born December 28, 1944) is a Dutch jurist and former UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. She served as Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe from 2002 and ...
, Dennis DeConcini
Dennis Webster DeConcini (; born May 8, 1937) is an American lawyer, philanthropist, politician and former Democratic U.S. Senator from Arizona. The son of former Arizona Supreme Court Judge Evo Anton DeConcini, he represented Arizona in the Unit ...
, Victor Halberstadt, Jeff Koons, Osamu Nagayama, Raymond F. Schinazi, Patty Wetterling (in purple).
Koons Family Institute on International Law and Policy
In 2007, American artist Jeff Koons, along with his wife Justine, founded the Koons Family Institute on International Law and Policy.[ It is the International Centre's research arm.][Ingrid Sischy (July 2014]
"Jeff Koons Is Back!"
, ''Vanity Fair''[
As highlighted by articles over the years, including a ''Wall Street Journal'' article entitled "Pooling Resources to Fight Child Abuse and Abduction", the issue of child abduction is personal to Koons.][ Following the end of his marriage to Hungarian-born Italian porn actress Ilona Staller in 1994, as she wanted to continue to perform as a porn actress and Koons wanted them to be monogamous, Staller, in violation of a US court order, left with their then-two-year-old son, Ludwig and took the child to Italy.][ After Koons spent millions of dollars in legal fees over a five-year period pursuing ]parental rights
A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male ...
to his young son, the Italian Supreme Court failed to recognize the couples' US-based joint custody agreement and instead sided with Staller.[
This loss for Koons led him to establish the Koons Family Institute, and devote over $4.3 million to the International Centre's work.] In addition, Koons' 2010 partnership with Kiehl's to design the artwork for a limited edition moisturizer line raised $200,000 for the Koons Family Institute.[Helen Werbe (December 2, 2010)]
"Kiehls and Koons Collaborate to Protect Children Around the World"
, ''Vanity Fair''
In 2006, the International Centre published a report of findings on the presence of child pornography legislation in the then-184 INTERPOL
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
member countries. It later updated this information, in subsequent editions, to include 196 UN member countries. The report, entitled "Child Pornography: Model Legislation & Global Review", assesses whether national legislation: (1) exists with specific regard to child pornography; (2) provides a definition of child pornography; (3) expressly criminalizes computer-facilitated offenses; (4) criminalizes the knowing possession of child pornography, regardless of intent to distribute; and (5) requires ISP
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
s to report suspected child pornography to law enforcement or to some other mandated agency.
ICMEC stated that it found in its initial report that only 27 countries had legislation needed to deal with child pornography offenses, while 95 countries did not have any legislation that specifically addressed child pornography, making child pornography a global issue worsened by the inadequacies of domestic legislation. The 7th Edition Report found that still only 69 countries had legislation needed to deal with child pornography offenses, while 53 did not have any legislation specifically addressing the problem. Over seven years of research from 2006 to 2012, ICMEC and the Institute report that they have worked with 100 countries that have revised or put in place new child pornography laws.[Permanent Bureau (February 2004)]
"Strategic Plan Update, submitted by the Permanent Bureau"
, Hague Conference on Private International Law, Preliminary Document # 14, p. 6[
In June 2009, the Koons Family Institute partnered with The Protection Project at ]Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, creating the Child Protection Project, to draft a model law focusing on the issues of child protection; in particular: "neglect, abuse, maltreatment, and exploitation". The primary objectives of the Child Protection Project are to: "research existing child protection laws in the 193 member states of the United Nations (UN); convene a series of regional expert working group meetings to establish a common definition for 'child protection;' create a database of national legislation and case law on child protection issues from around the world; and draft, publish, and globally disseminate model child protection legislation."
The drafting process included six expert group meetings, held in Singapore, Egypt, Costa Rica, Spain, Turkey, and the US. The final version of the Child Protection Model Law was published in January 2013. It was presented to the members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child during its 62nd Session in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2013. It was also presented before the 129th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an inter-parliamentary institution, international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and coop ...
(IPU) in Geneva in October 2013. Accompanying the Child Protection Model Law, ICMEC and The Protection Project published a companion "100 Best Practices in Child Protection" guide in 2013.
In March 2013, ICMEC became a member of the World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development.["Thematic Working Groups and Communities of Practices; Summary Work Program"](_blank)
, Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development, December 4, 2013 The Koons Family Institute works with the Global Forum to produce "Desk Reviews" of national legislation and policy responses in Latin America and Asia, with a focus on protecting children from violence and abuse, in particular from child pornography, online grooming, cyberbullying, and sexting, through the use of the internet and other technologies.
Global Missing Children's Network
Launched in 1998 as a joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
of NCMEC and ICMEC, the Global Missing Children's Network (GMCN) is a network of countries that connect, share best practices
A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to other known alternatives because it often produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing ...
, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations.[ The Network has 31 member countries: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.]
Each country can access a customizable website platform, and can enter missing children information into a centralized, multilingual database that has photos of and information about missing children, which can be viewed and distributed to assist in location and recovery efforts.[ GMCN staff train new countries joining the Network, and provide an annual member conference sponsored by Motorola Solutions Foundation at which best practices, current issues, trends, policies, procedures, and possible solutions are discussed.]
The parents of Madeleine McCann, a four-year-old girl who disappeared from her bed in a hotel in Portugal in 2007, approached ICMEC to help them publicize her case. ICMEC's YouTube channel, "Don'tYouForgetAboutMe", which lets people post videos, images, and information about their missing children, was launched that year as a part of these efforts, and had 2,200 members. ICMEC reviews the postings to ensure that any child in a posted video is in fact missing, that authorities are aware that the child is missing, and that the images are not inappropriate.[
]
Law enforcement training
ICMEC's child protection work includes training law enforcement officers.[ Since 2003, along with INTERPOL and Microsoft Corporation, which contributed $1.5 million to the global law enforcement training program, ICMEC has trained officers in methods of investigating cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation.] , ICMEC had conducted more than 50 such law enforcement training sessions, of greater than 5,000 law enforcement officers from more than 120 countries.
The Hague, UN, INTERPOL, and the OAS
In 2003, ICMEC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the goal of which is to raise money for projects that interest both organizations.[
In August 2008, ICMEC was granted " Special Consultative Status" by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), to assist the UN with its expertise regarding ]child sexual exploitation
Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the prostitution of ...
and child abduction. ICMEC also works with the intergovernmental organization
Globalization is social change associated with increased connectivity among societies and their elements and the explosive evolution of transportation and telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various typ ...
INTERPOL, the inter-continental organization the Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...
(the OAS), the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and law enforcement and elected officials in a number of countries.[
]
Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography
In 2006, ICMEC, NCMEC, and a number of banks, credit card companies, and electronic and third party payment network
A payment system is any system used to settle financial transactions through the transfer of monetary value. This includes the institutions, instruments, people, rules, procedures, standards, and technologies that make its exchange possible.Biago ...
s created the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography The Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography (FCACP) is a coalition of credit card issuers and Internet services companies that seeks to eliminate commercial child pornography by taking action on the payment systems that are used to fund these ...
(FCACP). The Financial Coalition consists of 34 banks, payment companies, and internet services companies. The Financial Coalition, whose members account for 90% of the US payments industry, aims to eliminate the ability of vendors and buyers to purchase child pornography, by closing payment accounts they use to buy and sell illegal child pornography.["The Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography (FCACP)"]
, International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
In 2007, the FCACP developed and published a best practices guide for financial institutions, entitled "Internet Merchant Acquisition and Monitoring Best Practices for Prevention and Detection of Commercial Child Pornography". The guide was distributed to banks in the United States by the US Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cred ...
.[ In 2008, the Coalition published a second paper, entitled "Trends in Migration, Hosting and Payment for Commercial Child Pornography Websites".][
This U.S.-based effort expanded regionally with the creation of the Asia Pacific Financial Coalition in August 2009. The Coalition's initial objective was to make people and companies aware of the issue of online child sexual abuse, and how its sale and distribution was being conducted across payment and technology platforms.] In 2013, the Asia Pacific FCACP/ICMEC published "Confronting New Challenges in the Fight Against Child Pornography: Best Practices to Help File Hosting and File Sharing Companies Fight the Distribution of Child Sexual Exploitation Content".
Project VIC
ICMEC manages and supports Project VIC. It is an image and video hash
Hash, hashes, hash mark, or hashing may refer to:
Substances
* Hash (food), a coarse mixture of ingredients
* Hash, a nickname for hashish, a cannabis product
Hash mark
*Hash mark (sports), a marking on hockey rinks and gridiron football field ...
-sharing initiative that streamlines investigative workflow
A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of activity, enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. It can be depicted as a sequence of ...
s and narrows the focus of law enforcement investigations by filtering the material investigators find on offenders' computers. Using robust hash sets, Project VIC technology allows law enforcement to determine which images retrieved have already been identified, and are part of the Project's database of millions of digital hashes of child porn, enabling detectives to focus on those that are new children waiting to be located and recovered.["New Fingerprinting Technology to Remove Child Pornography Online"]
Friend Media Technology Systems
The initiative uses donated technologies, such as Microsoft's Photo DNA, which creates a "fingerprint" that can be used to uniquely identify an individual photo.["Microsoft's response to the consultation on the European Commission Communication on the Rights of the Child (2011–2014)"]
, European Commission The technology also assists online service providers, by helping them detect child sexual abuse images shared on their sites, and block their continued dissemination.[
In addition, in April 2014 the British company Friend MTS Ltd. donated its ]video fingerprinting
Video fingerprinting or video hashing are a class of dimension reduction techniques in which a system identifies, extracts, and then summarizes characteristic components of a video as a unique or a set of multiple perceptual hashes, enabling tha ...
technology (known as F1) to ICMEC to help increase the efficiency of child pornography investigations, and to halt the continued sharing of similar files over the internet.[ ICMEC distributes the technology to law enforcement agencies, ]software provider
A software publisher is a publishing company in the software industry between the developer and the distributor. In some companies, two or all three of these roles may be combined (and indeed, may reside in a single person, especially in the case ...
s, and online service providers to hinder the spread of such material.[
Simultaneously, Project VIC, along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is in the process of compiling a cloud-based archive to consolidate and store the immense amount of data related to these cases, and identify new material as soon as it is shared or transferred.][
]
Global Health Coalition
In 2012, ICMEC created the Global Health Coalition, composed of health sector experts and leaders, to address child sexual abuse and exploitation as a global "public health crisis A health crisis or public health crisis is a difficult situation or complex health system that affects humans in one or more geographic areas (mainly occurred in natural hazards), from a particular locality to encompass the entire planet. Health cr ...
". ICMEC cited studies by the Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...
and others concluding that a history of abuse and exploitation as children leads to a number of health disorders in adulthood.[ ICMEC seeks to encourage the health sector to incorporate child sexual abuse into medical school curricula, increase timely victim recognition through medical training and education, and conduct ]epidemiological
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
studies to improve healthcare services for victims.[ Coalition members include Roche, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Harvard Medical School, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).][
]
Digital Economy Task Force
In 2013, ICMEC and Thomson Reuters Corporation hosted a conference of experts and leaders to examine the benefits and risks of the developing digital economy
The digital economy is a portmanteau of digital computing and economy, and is an umbrella term that describes how traditional Brick and mortar, brick-and-mortar economic activities (production, distribution, trade) are being transformed by Interne ...
. The conference members included representatives from government, academia, civil society, and online services/web companies.["Family Time: Protect kids from online dangers"]
''Taft Midway Driller'', September 23, 2014 The conference led to the August 2013 launch of the Digital Economy Task Force. The Task Force assesses the benefits and the risks of an economy that has the potential to be 100% anonymous.
In March 2014, the Digital Economy Task Force released its first report, "The Digital Economy: Potential, Perils, and Promises", consisting of a number of recommendations for policy makers, financial institutions, and law enforcement. The report recognizes the opportunities that a digital economy offers, but also highlights the potential for its abuse and misuse, including its role in facilitating criminal activities, including the sexual exploitation of children.[ Recommendations included the continuation of private and public sector research on the issue, investment in law enforcement training on how the digital economy operates, and the promotion of a global cross-sector discussion that can lead to clear policy on the issue.][
]
Regional activities
ICMEC has regional offices in Brazil, Singapore, and Australia and operations across six continents. The Centre encourages the creation of national operational centers built on a public-private partnership model.[
The ICMEC Latin America & Caribbean office works to help individual country legislators, government agencies, and regional bodies draft uniform legislation and train officers on how to respond to cases of child trafficking, child pornography, abduction, and online grooming.]["ICMEC Regional Offices and Representation"]
, ICMEC The ICMEC Asia Pacific Office fosters partnerships to fight child sexual exploitation and abuse.[ Its primary focus has been to fight online child sexual abuse and exploitation, by expanding the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography.]
ICMEC Australia
works to bring together government, LEA’s, NGOs and commercial entities to develop relationships and discuss collaborative actions to reduce the volume of child exploitation crimes within and from Australia. Established in 2021, ICMEC Australia focuses on delivering data collaborative initiatives and best practices that enhance the detection and investigation of crimes against children online within the bounds of the law.
In addition, ICMEC has helped establish a number of national and regional centers, including Child Focus {{More citations needed, date=December 2019
Child Focus (or the European Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children) is a Belgian foundation that supports prevention and investigation of missing children, abducted children, runaway children ...
in Belgium,[ The Smile of the Child in Greece,] the Romanian Center for Missing & Sexually Exploited Children (FOCUS), the South African Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, and the Southeastern European Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, which serves as a hub for 13 countries in the Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
region.[
]
References
See also
*International Missing Children's Day
International Missing Children's Day is an international day celebrated on May 25, the same day as the United States' National Missing Children's Day designated by Ronald Reagan in 1983.
Background
Launched in 1998 as a joint venture of the Inte ...
External links
ICMEC homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children
Anti–child pornography organizations
Child abduction in the United States
Child safety
Child welfare in the United States
Children's charities based in the United States
Charities based in Virginia
International organizations based in the Americas
Missing people organizations
Non-profit organizations based in Alexandria, Virginia
Organizations established in 1998
Organizations that combat human trafficking
Person databases
Sexual abuse advocacy and support groups
1998 establishments in Virginia