This was launched by EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström, together with US Attorney General Eric Holder following an agreement a year ago between Holder and Malmstrom to try to place the fight against the crimes of online child abuse high on the global agenda.
In his intervention, Justice Minister Chris Said recognised the need for this Global Alliance in view of the ongoing technological and societal developments which have led abuse to attain an international dimension. Hence, it was only appropriate that a truly global response is undertaken to counter it.
Minister Said spoke on Malta’s commitment to pursue the shared policy targets of the alliance by enhancing efforts to identify victims, whose sexual abuse is depicted in child pornography, and ensuring that they receive the necessary assistance, support and protection, enhancing efforts to investigate cases of child sexual abuse online and to identify and prosecute offenders.
This would increase public awareness of the risks posed by children’s activities online, including the self-production of images, in order to reduce the production of new child pornography, and reducing the availability of child pornography online and the re-victimisation of children.
Dr Said asserted that Malta has sought to address the problem of online sexual abuse through raising awareness on both the benefits and the potential pitfalls of internet use, which can be exploited by abusers of child online activities.
Yet, there was a constant need to ensure that national laws were as closely correlated as possible and that interpretations of the various provisions of the law do not vary too much. It was an ambiguity that potential abusers could continue with their activities undeterred.
Malta reiterated that initiatives had to be determined by the size of and typology of problems found in the territory of the state. This entailed a degree of to be able to truly gauge the effect of initiatives and measures taken at national level.
Along with the 27 EU members and the US, the members of the Alliance include Albania, Australia, Cambodia, Croatia, Georgia, Ghana, Japan, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Serbia, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.