Secretary General Noble announces the creation of INTERPOL's Project Guardian.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble addresses the 'Paris meeting on missing and sexually exploited children' attended by the Queens of Sweden and Belgium and several First Ladies of the G8.

PARIS – INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble today announced the creation of a specialist taskforce to tackle a new threat posed to children via the internet.

Addressing the ‘Paris meeting on missing and sexually exploited children’, Mr Noble revealed that through its support in online child abuse investigations, INTERPOL had identified a disturbing new trend of criminals using ‘modelling’ sites to gain access to children.

The sites do not contain sexually graphic pictures, but instead serve as a front enabling paedophiles to contact the site owners to gain direct physical access to the ‘models,’ and also buy abuse images.

'This trend requires the urgent attention of law enforcement, but the significant investigative resources required are simply not available in most national police forces, which is why INTERPOL is launching Project Guardian,' said Secretary General Noble.

'The officers dedicated to this taskforce will also investigate emerging evidence of the involvement of organised crime behind many of these sites, which result in the sexual exploitation of children on a daily basis.'

One million euros is required to launch Project Guardian, enabling INTERPOL to recruit two police experts for two years and fund six international operational meetings to assist in the co-ordination of work at the national level.

The project would be integrated into one of INTERPOL’s planned global anti-crime centres, focusing on the fight against trafficking in human beings and child abuse. Using INTERPOL’s Child Abuse Image Database (ICAID) and its specialist recognition software, investigators are able to connect images from the same series of abuse, or those taken in the same location with different victims. To date, ICAID has assisted in the identification and rescue of more than 500 victims around the world.

Funding from the G8 has also led to the creation of the International Child Sexual Exploitation database (ISCE), which will be piloted later this year using the INTERPOL communications system. ICSE will give national investigators improved access to INTERPOL’s existing database in addition to those held by police in other countries enabling them to automatically check images, and establish if a victim has already been identified.

Organised by Mrs Chirac, the Paris meeting included honorary committee members of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. which includes their majesties the Queens of Sweden and Belgium, Mrs Bush, Mrs Putin, Mrs Moubarak, Mrs Barroso, Mrs Kwasniewska and Mrs Matvienko.

The Paris meeting on missing and sexually exploited children at the Elysée Palace was convened by Madame Bernadette Chirac (centre) and attended by (left to right) Mrs Jolanta Kwasniewska, Mrs Laura Bush, Mrs Suzanne Moubarak, the Queen of Sweden, the Queen of Belgium, Mrs Ludmilla Putin, Mrs Margarida Sousa Uva-Barroso and Mrs Valentina Matvienko.

The fight against sexual exploitation of children via the Internet, speech by INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble