Fact sheets  Crimes against children      (Acrobat files)

Meetings 26th Meeting of the INTERPOL Specialist Group on Crimes Against Children. Sydney, Australia, 10-12 June 2008

Operation IDent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests suspected child abuser focus of INTERPOL global appeal (08/05/2008)

Links   Missing children warning   National legislations   Operation VICO

Children are the most vulnerable individuals in our society; they are also the most precious commodity that the world has and have a right to be protected from all forms of abuse. INTERPOL as an organization is also committed to eradicating the sexual abuse of children and has passed several resolutions making crimes against children one of International policing top priorities.

INTERPOL's involvement in the investigation of offences against children began in 1989 following the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. To prevent a crime and especially prevent a child from being abused is the goal of all law enforcement agencies. To reach this goal, INTERPOL is working globally with several partners raising awareness and focuses on the need to act locally and think globally addressing the abuse of children committed by those who travel beyond borders. INTERPOL’s Specialist Group on Crimes against Children focuses on four different arenas; commercial exploitation and trafficking in Children; sex offenders; serious violent crimes against children and child pornography, and represent a worldwide forum of specialist dealing with this type of crimes.

INTERPOL also have activities in the different regions of the world to ensure that law enforcement officers understand the need to act upon requests involving children at risk, and create a global understanding on how to address victim identification and help rescue children being sexually abused and pornographically exploited

Operationally, INTERPOL support member states in carrying out large operations investigating the commercial exploitation of children, paedophile networks and also support on going cases. The end result of the work undertaken by INTERPOL should be that member states see the need of sharing information and issue Green Notices on theoffenders that travel to commit their crime.

INTERPOL is a partner within the Virtual Global Taskforce which is an Alliance of law enforcement agencies from around the world working together to fight online child abuse. The VGT logo will lead you to information about the online taskforce. (www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com)