UNITED KINGDOM: Police Launch Child Abuse Database [news]

[London, July 24, 2003] - A ground-breaking computer database that will enable police to trace child abuse victims and catch their abusers has been launched today in a bid to tackle internet paedophilia.

The database, called 'Childbase', already includes 220,000 images distributed by paedophiles on the internet of children being abused.

It utilises the most powerful image recognition computer programme in the world, mapping the facial characteristics of each victim, and enabling cross-checks against millions of images within seconds.

It will tell investigators instantly if there is a new victim, or if a particular case has already been dealt with, shortening the laborious and harrowing task of going through books of child abuse images.

The National Crime Squad, which developed the £500,000 database, said that Childbase was the most powerful tool the police had ever had in the fight against internet paedophilia.

It will be available to every police force in the UK and may eventually be used by overseas law enforcement agencies investigating child abuse images online.

[source: The Guardian. For the full story, go to:
http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,1074,1005120,00.html]

CHILD SLAVERY: Given Away: An Interview with Jean-Robert Cadet [publication]

Youth Advocate Program International announces the publication of "Given Away: An Interview with Jean-Robert Cadet" on its website at www.yapi.org,under publications. This interview is the first in a series of recent
conversations with former child slaves. Cadet clearly describes how he came to be an enslaved child in Haitian society, his relationship with the family that enslaved him, and his transition to freedom in the United States. Today, Cadet is a published author, an educator and the
founder of the Restavec Foundation. Cadet's full story is told in Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle Class American (University of Texas Press, 1998).

"Given Away" is available via the YAPI website in both English and French as a PDF file.

For more information, contact:

Youth Advocate Program International (YAPI)
4545 42nd Street, NW, Suite 209, Washington, DC 20016
Tel: 00 1 202 244 1986; Email: yapi@yapi.org
Website: www.yapi.org