At the EU-U.S. Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial meeting held 20-21 June in Copenhagen, a framework of agreement outlined the launch of a Global Alliance to fight child sexual abuse online.

The EU and the U.S., at the EU-U.S. Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting attended by Attorney General Eric Holder, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Denmark Minister of Justice Morten Bodskov, European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding , EU Commissioner of Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom and Cyprus Minister of Justice and Public Order Loucas Louca on Thursday agreed to enhance efforts against child sexual abuse online. The initiative seeks to unite decision-makers around the world to better identify and assist victims and to prosecute the perpetrators. Further, governments are called upon to participate in building a Global Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Online.

In a joint statement both parties emphasized that child abuse online is a crime that is ubiquitous and without borders. The statement continues: 'Child pornography images circulate easily across jurisdictions, and efforts to reduce such circulation have failed to produce satisfactory results to date.   Child pornography offenders are increasingly operating in international online groups that use sophisticated technologies and security protocols to frustrate the efforts of law enforcement to investigate their crimes.   Different laws and policies across jurisdictions also have created law enforcement vulnerabilities that these international offenders are exploiting.   Therefore, we need to act together to successfully confront the problem.'

"I feel very strongly about the need to fight these outrageous crimes. We must go beyond mere declarations of principle and achieve concrete improvements at national level. The recent adoption of the Directive on child sexual abuse was an important first step forward. There is, however, a need for more action worldwide. You will hardly find a case of child sexual abuse online that does not involve criminals, victims or infrastructure in third countries. Therefore, together with US Attorney General Mr Eric Holder, I have proposed a Global Alliance of national Ministers of the Interior and Justice. The EU and the U.S. have taken the lead in designing the Alliance, and plan to invite States around the world to join", said Cecilia Malmström, EU commissioner for Home Affairs, after her meeting with Eric Holder, US Attorney General, in Copenhagen.

The Global Alliance will seek to unite countries around the world behind a set of shared goals:

• Enhancing efforts to identify victims, whose sexual abuse is depicted in child pornography, and ensuring their assistance, support and protection;
• Reducing the availability of child pornography online and the re-victimization of children;
• Enhancing efforts to investigate cases of child sexual abuse online and to identify and prosecute offenders;
• Increasing 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.

The Global Alliance builds upon the successful work of the EU-US Working Group on cyber-security and cyber-crime, where the fight against child online abuse has been identified as one of key priorities. The Global Alliance will set out policy targets and operational goals, giving participants the freedom to choose the means how to achieve them. Specific actions, their extent and content, will be decided by participant countries, in accordance with their national situation.

Partners from around the world are invited to join the Global Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Online with a formal launch of the Global Alliance planned for December 2012.

Read the full EU press statement here.

Read the full US Department of Justice press release here.