• Development and dissemination of knowledge and expertise
• Development of an operational network of NGOs in Europe
• Positioning of activities in Europe

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The activities of the International Development Department have a threefold objective, with a view to combating the disappearances, abduction and sexual exploitation of children around the world:

- the development and dissemination of knowledge and expertise;
- the development of an operational network of NGOs in Europe;
- the positioning of activities in Europe.

Development and dissemination of knowledge and expertise

The first objective of this department is the development and dissemination of knowledge and expertise. To this effect, it is essential to identify and make an inventory of existing NGOs around the world, to define their fields of action and working methods, to determine potential synergies and to distribute the data collected among NGOs, European institutions and policy-makers. These activities are carried out thanks to the financial contribution from the European Commission's Daphne programme (DG for Justice, Freedom and Security).

This was how the Childoscope study came to be carried out in 2004.

What does "Childoscope" mean?

Over the last few years, action to combat the disappearance and sexual exploitation of children has become an important priority for the European Union. Under the Belgian Presidency, in September 2001, the Council of the European Union approved a resolution concerning the contribution of civil society organisations towards the search for missing or sexually exploited children, the "Resolution on the contribution of civil society in finding missing or sexually exploited children (2001/C 283/01)".
At the request of the European Commission, Child Focus and the IIRPC (Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy, University of Ghent) joined forces in 2003 to carry out a study on this subject. This study, entitled “Childoscope”, consists of three parts:

- the number of missing and sexually exploited children in the 15 EU member countries;
- the existence, role and structures of 241 civil society organisations in the 15 member countries and 4 candidate countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania) actively dealing with the problem of missing or sexually exploited children;
- the legal basis that is needed to promote cooperation between non-governmental organisations and the competent authorities (protection of confidential information, criminal procedures, etc.).

For the purposes of this study, the researchers questioned different academics, representatives of non-governmental organisations, the police and the courts.

In February, Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, paid a visit to Child Focus and the results of the study were handed over to him on this occasion.

The following recommendations were made:

- the provision of funds for the creation of operational centres in Europe meeting a number of criteria concerning the quality of services, the level of instruction and training of personnel and permanent accessibility via a free emergency number;
- the creation or designation in each country of the European Union of a centre for the collection and analysis of data on missing or sexually exploited children in Europe, on the basis of a standardised methodology and centralisation of these data by a European centre serving as a source for a European policy on the subject;
- the provision of funds to complete and update the Directory of civil society organisations, and to make the Website www.childoscope.net a dynamic and interactive instrument;
- and, finally, promotion among the players concerned in the different countries of the Union of cooperation between private and public organisations on the basis of the cooperation agreement model established by Child Focus and the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IIRCP) of the University of Ghent.

The results were posted on the Internet site www.childoscope.net.
The information in the database concerning civil society organisations actively dealing with missing and/or sexually exploited children is updated from one year to the next.
Consequently, through this database it is now possible (as of April 2005) to consult information on over 22 member and candidate countries.

To develop and disseminate knowledge and expertise, Child Focus also regularly receives official visits, such as that made to the Centre on 28 January by the Queen in the company of Mrs Kofi Annan, wife of the United Nations Secretary General.

For Child Focus, this was an ideal opportunity to emphasise that the disappearance and sexual exploitation of children know no frontiers and the necessity to develop an international policy to combat these phenomena.

On 26 October 2004, the Centre received an official visit from the Queen and the wife of the Polish President, Mrs Kwasniewska, who in her own country takes numerous initiatives to improve children's lives. Poland also has two organisations which have been members of the European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children since 2001: the ITAKA Foundation, which is active in combating the disappearance of children and adults, and Nobody’s Children Foundation, which acts against the sexual exploitation of children. During this visit, the Chairman of Child Focus, Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer, proposed to make the cooperation between these two organisations even more effective. International operational cooperation requires effective collaboration among all the players concerned at national level (police, courts, victim support, NGOs, etc.).

In addition, Child Focus also had the privilege of a visit by delegations from Romania, Finland, Ukraine, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Senegal. For its part, the department visited member organisations of the European Federation, particularly in France, Greece and Portugal. Most of the time, it was a question of organisations or individuals wishing to obtain more information on the concept of Child Focus and/or the creation of an equivalent centre in their own country.

Development of an operational network of NGOs in Europe

In 2004, M and P, both aged thirteen, ran away from home to Lille (France). Child Focus immediately contacted the new French association, SOS Enfants Disparus, which alerted its network. Straight away, the contact point in Lille distributed Child Focus posters and informed the French authorities. The following day, the two exhausted children were found in the South of France.

A second objective of the International development department is to set up an operational NGO network in Europe. The European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children (folder pdf), whose members have the mission of talking with a single voice to the various European bodies, serves as a driving force for this development and constitutes a forum for the exchange of information and expertise.

At present (April 2005), this international association with a humanitarian objective, which has its General Secretariat in Brussels (Belgium) in the offices of Child Focus, brings together 19 organisations in 15 countries on the European continent.

The Federation was officially founded on 4 May 2001 at the European Parliament in Brussels under the patronage of Mrs Nicole Fontaine (President of the Parliament) and Mr Antonio Vitorino (member of the European Commission – DG for Justice and Home Affairs).

A non-profit-making association, the Federation acts independently, exclusively in the interests of children, with reference to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Its missions are in keeping with the philosophy of ICMEC and can be summarised as follows:

- to speak with a single voice to the European bodies (European Parliament, Council of Europe, to which a request for participatory status has been submitted, the European Commission, etc.);
- to increase the awareness of the general public and to promote consciousness-raising campaigns, such as International Missing Children’s Day, organised on 25 May;
- to promote the creation of operational centres in as many European countries as possible, available day and night and having a free short telephone number;
- to promote collaboration among these private centres of public utility on the one hand and the judicial and police bodies on the other, on the basis of cooperation agreements;
- to promote the creation of an observatory allowing statistics to be produced concerning the phenomena of disappearances and exploitation, in the awareness that reliable and comparable data are lacking at present.

The European Federation is run by the following Board of Directors:
• Chairman:
Mr Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer,
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Child Focus (Belgium)
• Vice-Chairman:
Mr Costas Yannoupoulos,
President of The Smile of the Child (Greece)

• Board Members:
Mrs Zusana Baudysova,
Director-General of Our Child Foundation (Czech Republic)
Mrs Bodil Dichow,
Director of Thora Center (Denmark)
Mrs Annie Gourgue,
President of La Mouette (France)
Mr Arnauld Gruselle,
Assistant Manager of Fondation pour l’Enfance (France)
Mrs Maria Keller-Hamela,
Director of international affairs of Nobody’s Children Foundation (Poland)
Mr Stuart Rae-Brown,
Case manager at the National Missing Persons Helpline (United Kingdom)

* The election of Mrs Kristine Kloeck, Director-General of Child Focus (Belgium) will take place at the next meeting of the Board of Directors and the General Assembly in June 2005.

• Secretary General:
Mrs Tessa Schmidburg,
International Development Manager, Child Focus (Belgium)

• Financial Committee:
The European Federation is assisted by a Financial Committee headed by Ms Isabelle Barnier and Ms Marie-Laure Schöller.
This financial support committee contributes towards the Federation’s financial viability. It mainly comprises representatives of France, who in 2004 organised in particular a tennis tournament for the benefit of the Itaka Foundation and the Federation’s activities.

In 2004, on the initiative of Ambassador Dubuisson, the Federation also benefited from an important contribution from "Musiciens d'Europe", under the presidency of Mr Hadelin Donnet.

Five action priorities were established in 2004, within five working groups:

1. A first priority is to create a solid operational network in the countries of the European Union. The centres must have a telephone line offering long periods of accessibility, a permanent team of case managers and an adequate budget derived from both public and private funds, which guarantees their independence. Their operational activities should be based on official cooperation agreements, which assure them of genuine collaboration with the courts and the police. Alongside these operational centres, associations which are not operational but pursue the same objectives as the European Federation can continue to form part of the network.
2. Secondly, the operational centres in all the countries of the European Union should deal with the phenomena of the disappearance and sexual exploitation of minors and possibly also with related problems. This guarantees that they will fit perfectly into the international network of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC – www.icmec.org). However, the Federation may accept centres which, for various reasons, do not yet fully cover both fields of activity.
3. A third objective is putting into service a three-digit emergency number for all the European network. A study should be carried out with the telephone companies in the different countries to resolve the existing technical problems. The help of the European Commission would be welcome in this connection.
4. Along the same lines, the members of the operational network should have the same name. This would be an advantage for communications with the authorities, the sponsors and the general public. The opinion of a specialised agency will be requested for this purpose.
5. In conclusion, the European Federation must pay the necessary attention to its official status given the fact that in future it must become not only essential to the national and European authorities but also recognised by them. To this effect, it must develop a common capacity for research, reflection and the development of strategies, in the field of intervention, prevention and follow-up of victims.

The Queen, in her capacity as a member of the ICMEC Honorary Board, set in motion the idea of a day of reflection and consciousness-raising on the disappearance and sexual exploitation of children in Europe. For the European Federation, this initiative was a most valuable encouragement.

The day was organised on 23 November in collaboration with the European Federation. The Queen expressed the desire that other European countries develop centres similar to that of Child Focus. Distinguished guests, namely Queen Sylvia of Sweden, Mrs Bernadette Chirac and Mrs Jolanta Kwasniewska – also members of the ICMEC Honorary Board – and Princess Astrid and Princess Victoria of Sweden, attended the event. Thanks to an academic session in the Palace, the day did not go unnoticed in political, administrative and judicial circles in Belgium and around Europe. Some important speakers took the floor: Guy De Vel (Director-General of Legal Affairs at the Council of Europe), Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin (Chair of the Executive Board of the Internet Rights Forum), Ernie Allen (ICMEC President and CEO) and Francisco Fonseca Morillo (Director at the European Commission's DG for Justice, Freedom and Security).

In the presence of the King and Queen, the day closed with a magnificent concert in Flagey conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, for the benefit of the European Federation.

Positioning of activities in Europe

The third priority of the International development department concerns promotion of the Belgian concept.
Child Focus and the European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children represent Europe at the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In 2004, the Centre organised many contacts in order to explain its operational activities on the European scene and to promote cooperation among existing organisations.

In effect, it must be acknowledged that for the time being there are only two fully operational centres in the world which offer active support in all investigations connected with the disappearance, abduction and sexual exploitation of children and which also analyse these phenomena and/or organise prevention campaigns.
They are the National Center for Missing & Exploited Childre (NCMEC - www.ncmec.org) in Washington and Child Focus in Brussels.
In March 2004, for instance, an important meeting was held in Romania with representatives of NGOs, the police and the courts, at which the operational model of Belgium and the United States (NCMEC - www.ncmec.org) was presented. Subsequently, the adviser to the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs made a visit to the Centre.

In 2004, there were two meetings of the ICMEC Board of Directors, on which the Child Focus Chairman has a seat: the first in April in Washington and the second in October in The Hague.

• ICMEC or the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children was created in Washington in 1998.
• The cofounders included the National Centre, which had existed in the United States since 1974, and the Belgian Centre, Child Focus, created in 1997.
• ICMEC brings together several American and European personalities and, gradually, persons from other continents too.
• Its objective is to make decision-makers and the general public aware of the problems of missing, abducted and/or exploited children.
• ICMEC promotes the distribution of photos of missing children worldwide, finances studies concerning parental abductions and sets up programmes to combat child pornography on the Internet.
• ICMEC is run by a Board of Directors chaired by Mr Arnold I. Burns, former Deputy Attorney-General of the United States, assisted by three vice-chairs:
- Mary Banotti (European Parliament)
- Dennis DeConcini (former US Senator)
- Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer (President of Child Focus and of the European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children)
• An Honorary Board has been set up to help ICMEC construct a world network of organisations and persons likely to be able to protect children around the world.
Current composition:
Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians
Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden
Mrs Laura Bush, wife of the President of the United States
Mrs Marta Sahagùn de Fox, wife of the President of Mexico
Mrs Jolanta Kwasniewska, wife of the President of Poland
Mrs Valentina Matvienko, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia
Mrs Susanna Agnelli, President of the IL FARO Foundation

All these activities carried out by the Child Focus International Development Department are aimed ultimately at making the Centre more effective in Europe so as to improve the situation of missing and abused children.