The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with a regional presence in the United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Africa, Canada, Latin America, Caribbean, Southeast Asia, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, is a private 501(c)(3) non-governmental, nonprofit global organization. It combats child sexual exploitation, child pornography, child trafficking 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 INTERPOL, the inter-continental organization the Organization of American States (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 (NCMEC) approved the creation of the International Centre; the two now act as sister organizations. ICMEC combats child sexual exploitation, child pornography, 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, then-First Lady of the United States, and Cherie Blair, wife of then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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 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, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Dennis DeConcini, Daniel H. Cohen, 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 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 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 ISPs 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."Model Legislation Update: Since the Beginning" , ICMEC. April 2010. 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. 6The Koons Family Institute on International Law and Policy (2012) "Child Pornography: Model Legislation & Global Review" , 7th Edition
In June 2009, the Koons Family Institute partnered with The Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University 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."Katai de Mello Dantas (August 1, 2011) "Protecting Children from Exploitation: Discussions on Creating a Model Law and a Parliamentary Guide" , Peace & Collaborative Development Network
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 (IPU) in Geneva in October 2013."Panel Discussion (Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights) (Geneva, 7–9 October 2013); The Role of Parliaments in Protecting the Rights of Children, in Particular Unaccompanied Migrant Children, and in Preventing their Exploitation in Situations of War and Conflict" , Inter-Parliamentary Union"129th IPU Assembly; Overview of Main Events and Decisions (Geneva, 7–9 October 2013)" , Inter-Parliamentary Union 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 Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development."Thematic Working Groups and Communities of Practices; Summary Work Program" , 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., ICMEC
Global Missing Children's Network Launched in 1998 as a joint venture of NCMEC and ICMEC, the Global Missing Children's Network (GMCN) is a network of countries that connect, share best practices, 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."New Zealand Police joins Global Missing Children's Network" , New Zealand Police. May 25, 2012. 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."Funding a Missing Children's Conference in Brazil" , Motorola Solutions Foundation, Solutions Grants
The parents of Madeleine McCann, a four-year-old girl who disappeared from her 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."'You have to blank out the dark thoughts'" , The Guardian, August 9, 2007. 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., Microsoft, January 17, 2007. , 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 it 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 and child abduction. ICMEC also works with the intergovernmental organization INTERPOL, the inter-continental organization the Organization of American States (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