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Skriven 2007-01-17 23:31:10 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070117) for Wed, 2007 Jan 17
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Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the International Centre for Missing and Exploited
Children Conference
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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
January 17, 2007

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the International Centre for Missing and Exploited
Children Conference
Elysée Palace
Paris, France



3:06 P.M. (Local)

MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much. Thank you, Madame Chirac, for bringing us
all together and hosting us here. Thank you to the other members of the
board for addressing this very important issue. And thank you very much,
Mr. Wiesel, for your beautiful words that remind us all of our own
humanity.

The United States made missing and exploited children a priority in 1981
when a young boy named Adam Walsh was kidnapped in a Florida department
store. When Adam first disappeared, his parents had no network to call on
to help to get their son back. Shortly after Adam's abduction, he was found
murdered.

Adam's father, John Walsh, was determined that no parent should feel
powerless to recover a missing child. His advocacy helped establish the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has built an
extraordinary network to keep families together.

Today, federal, state and local law enforcement cooperate to pursue
kidnappers across state lines. National registries alert parents about
convicted sexual predators living in their neighborhoods. Across the United
States, anyone can call a hotline to immediately report a missing child. In
1990, 62 percent of children reported missing to the center were recovered.
Today, the number has climbed to 94 percent.

We saw the effectiveness of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. With help from the federal
government, the American Red Cross, and many, many individual volunteers,
the National Center worked day and night to reunite families separated by
the storm. Of the more than 5,000 children initially reported missing,
every single case of a missing child has been resolved, and this gives me
the opportunity to thank Ernie Allen, the head of the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children in the United States.

In the United States, some of the most important work to recover missing
children is done by the American people. Just last week in Missouri, a tip
from an observant child led to the rescue of two kidnapped boys, one who
had been missing for four days, and one who had been missing for four
years. The rescue was aided by our country's AMBER Alert system. Through
AMBER Alerts, local law enforcement works with broadcast media and with
transit authorities to make sure any American watching a TV or listening to
a radio or passing a highway sign can help locate missing children. So far,
AMBER Alerts have saved more than 300 young lives in the United States, and
similar programs are now saving lives in countries across the globe,
including France.

All governments must do their part to end global threats to children,
because the abuse of a child anywhere is an offense to civilized people
everywhere. Every year, approximately one million children are trafficked
for commercial sexual exploitation. Every country must educate its
citizens, especially women and children, so they can avoid this
degradation. Governments must also reduce the demand for child prostitution
among their own citizens.

In recent years, President Bush has signed into law increased penalties for
U.S. citizens who travel abroad to engage in sexual exploitation of
children. While the digital age presents new opportunities, it also poses
new threats to young people. The Internet allows predators to make contact
with unsuspecting children. It means the exploitation of children in one
country can devastate families half a world away. It has turned child
pornography into a global crisis.

Pornographic images of children are not exercises in free speech. They are
criminal acts of child abuse. The United States is working to end this
abuse through the government's Internet Crimes Against Children task
forces. With the help of task force members, federal prosecution of child
pornography and abuse has increased from 350 cases in 1998 to more than
1,400 cases in 2005.

We expect even more advances in this fight against child pornography
through our government's new Project Safe Childhood program. Announced by
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez in February 2006, Project Safe Childhood
has launched a coordinated national response to the growing threat of
online exploitation. Federal, state and local law enforcement cooperate to
secure the strictest possible penalties against sexual predators. Project
Safe Childhood is also partnering with the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children and the Ad Council to start a public awareness campaign
that will teach parents and children how to avoid predators online.

Through our national and international Innocent Images Initiative, the
American government works with law enforcement in 17 nations, as well as
Europol, to end the nearly nine million documented global transactions of
child pornography.

The abuses of children on the Internet respect no national boundaries. And
we've seen that when governments cooperate with other nations, they keep
children in their own countries safe.

In 2003, this international cooperation saved the life of a six-year-old
American girl. In Denmark, a law enforcement officer discovered images
online of this little girl being abused, and he reported them to Interpol.
Within days, the images were recognized by the Toronto police service,
which worked with American officials to decipher clues about the little
girl's identity. The FBI examined pictures taken of the girl in her Scout
uniform, traced the troop number in the photos, and followed the images to
North Carolina. There they found the little girl, and the relative who had
abused her, and he is now serving a 100-year sentence.

In the more than 175,000 images this man had on his computer, law
enforcement found evidence that led to the arrest of child abusers in South
Carolina, Texas and the United Kingdom. Because one person in Denmark
tipped off Interpol, four children in the United States were saved.

A society shows its character in the way it treats its most vulnerable
citizens. Each of us can help protect children in our societies, and every
country must help protect children in our global society.

Thanks to each of you for your work to keep children safe, and for helping
families around the world fulfill their dreams of a healthy, happy and
successful life for all of their children.

Thank you all. (Applause.)

END 3:13 P.M. (Local)
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