An International Youth Advisory Congress on Online Safety and Security will be held in London, England from July 16 to July 22, 2008.  Twenty students will be selected to represent the United States at the conference.  Students between the ages of eleven and sixteen who are Internet-savvy and wish to be considered for one of the twenty U.S. spots have until January 25, 2008, to submit an application.  A total of 300 students from Australia, Canada, the European Union, and the United States will attend the conference.   

“Children today are part of a new Internet generation that grew up playing, communicating and learning in cyberspace,” said National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) President and CEO Ernie Allen. “It’s important to solicit their input in our effort to protect them from predators who may try to victimize them online.” 

The conference will be hosted by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, (CEOP), in partnership with the Virtual Global Task Force, (VGT), an international law enforcement organization dedicated to fighting the online victimization of children.  Both organizations are based in London.

“This event is not about talking to young people.  It is not even about thinking how to best protect them.  It is about listening to them,” said Jim Gamble, CEO of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and Chair of the VGT. 

Participants will attend workshops, panel discussions and other group activities.  The objective of the Congress will be to: 

• Give young people a voice in how online and offline child-protection measures are created and implemented;
• Engage young people who directly face online risks by enabling them to design solutions and interact with those people and organizations that work to protect them; and
• Provide young people from various cultures and backgrounds with a forum to communicate with each other. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has asked NCMEC to work in partnership with them in selecting the twenty students that will represent the United States.  NetSmartz Workshop, a program of NCMEC, will coordinate the selection process.  The students selected must have knowledge of Internet technology and be willing to express their opinions on online safety and security issues.

To prepare the twenty students that are selected to represent the U.S. at the conference, ICE and NCMEC will co-host an April meeting in Washington, DC to discuss online safety and Internet security with the students.         

Information on how to apply can be found at http://www.NetSmartz.org/IYAC.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children^®
NCMEC is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization dedicated to helping protect children from abduction and sexual exploitation. NCMEC’s congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled more than 519,300 leads. Since its establishment in 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement with more than 135,800 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 118,700 children. For more information about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit www.missingkids.com.

About NetSmartz^® Workshop
The NetSmartz Workshop, a program of NCMEC, is an interactive, educational safety resource for children ages 5 to 17, parents, guardians, educators, and law enforcement, that uses age-appropriate activities to teach children how to stay safer on the Internet and in the real world. Visit http://www.NetSmartz.org for more information.

About U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Created in March 2003, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The agency was created after 9/11, by combining the law enforcement arms of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and the former U.S. Customs Service, to more effectively enforce our immigration and customs laws and to protect the United States against terrorist attacks. ICE does this by targeting illegal immigrants: the people, money and materials that support terrorism and other criminal activities. ICE is a key component of the DHS “layered defense” approach to protect the United States. Visit http://www.ice.gov/ for more information.

About the Virtual Global Taskforce
Set up in 2004, the Virtual Global Taskforce provides an international alliance of law enforcement agencies across Australia, the United States and Canada as well as Interpol in bringing a global policing response to tackling online child abuse. Visit http://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com/ for more information.

About the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre works across the UK and maximizes international links to deliver a holistic approach that combines police powers with the dedicated expertise of business sectors, government, specialist charities and other interested organizations - all focused on tackling child sex abuse wherever and whenever it happens. Visit http://www.ceop.gov.uk/ for more information