| Children's Advocate Calls for Partnetship in Fight Against Child Pornography on the Internet 29 September 1999 | |
Nigel Williams, Director of the Internet children's welfare group, Childnet
International, called today for a renewed co-operative effort on the part of
net users, the online industry, law enforcement, and governments to combat the
growth of child pornography on the Internet.
Speaking at a major conference bringing together these different interests in
Vienna, Austria, Williams said "The Internet is the perfect medium for
paedophiles, allowing meticulous storing and exchange of images and the potential
for children to be contacted and enticed into an online or offline relationship".
In calling for a closer partnership Williams echoed the words of US President
John F Kennedy "If not us, who. If not now, when."
Williams told the conference of Childnet's pioneering work over the last two years in bringing together hotline initiatives (which receive reports from users about illegal material like child pornography). He announced to the conference that the hotlines had now decided to form the Internet Hotline Providers in Europe (INHOPE) Association - www.inhope.org . He said "Hotlines cannot catch paedophiles - that is the job of law enforcement - but they can harness the concerns of Internet users worldwide to protect their medium from material that shows the actual sexual abuse of children".
Childnet's work includes promoting the positive benefits for children on line, and it has taken a leading role in promoting awareness of safety concerns on the Net. Williams said "We must ensure parents and everyone working with kids, as well as the children themselves, understand how to enjoy safe surfing." Childnet will soon be completing an EC funded project on how best to communicate about Internet safety.
For further information about Childnet see www.childnet-int.org, where the full text of Nigel Williams speech is available (www.childnet-int.org/publicat/index.html)
During the Vienna conference, Williams can be contacted on his mobile at (+44) 411 702906. After the conference at the Childnet office on (+44) 171 639 6967, or e-mail info@childnet-int.org.
(Childnet International is a registered charity no. 1053193)