The United Arab Emirates reiterated its support for the international efforts to combat the risks of online child abuse, and welcomed the charter approved by the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), which announced the strategic priorities of the Environmental Scan to protect children from online sexual exploitation, as a part of the efforts of the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) Board of Directors.

The charter aims to identify new or emerging threats, and focuses on social, technical, legislative and organisational developments that may influence the online sexual exploitation of children in the future.

Major General Dr. Nasser Lakhrebani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of HH Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Chairman of the Higher Committee for Child Protection at the Ministry of Interior and Chair of the VGT, stressed the importance of the charter in highlighting the threats. He called upon law enforcement agencies to follow up on the latest technologies used by offenders, and to work on curbing their attempts to abuse and exploit children.

Chair of the VGT urged police forces across the globe to continue the efforts to protect children from online risks. He reiterated the support of the UAE, represented by the Ministry of Interior, to all efforts aimed at fighting crimes of online sexual exploitation and abuse of children, promoting international cooperation to offer technical solutions, predict global trends, and develop the means to fight any potential new threats.

Major General Dr. Al Nuaimi, mentioned that the charter, which was produced by the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), will be published soon on the VGT's website www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com. He called upon law enforcement agencies to follow up on the latest technologies used by offenders to abuse and exploit children.

For his part, Fernando Ruiz Pérez, Head of Operations at EC3, pointed that the charter aims to educate the public on the key factors that reshape online sexual exploitation of children.

"This is of high importance to achieve a collective response from representatives of communities, decision makers, law enforcement agencies, private sector, and NGOs, in order to fight this dynamic criminal problem," he added.