Remarks by First Lady Laura Bush at the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children Conference

    WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a
 transcript of remarks by First Lady Laura Bush at the International Centre
 for Missing and Exploited Children Conference:
     Elysee 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)
 
 

SOURCE White House Press Office