United Arab Emirates to succeed ICE as next chair of Virtual Global Taskforce
SYDNEY, Australia – The Ministry of Interior for the United Arab Emirates was selected this week as the next chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private sector partners dedicated to combating online child sexual abuse.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has led the alliance for the past three years and will continue serving on the board of management.
During its tenure as chair, ICE increased VGT membership with the addition of four countries and five private sector partners to create an even stronger presence and greater global reach with enhanced capacity for research, training, education and intelligence sharing.
The official change of chair will take place in November 2015 at the next board meeting in the UAE. As chairmanship of the VGT rotates among members every three years, the UAE will oversee the international taskforce until 2018.
Major General (Dr.) Nasser Salem Lekhreiban Al Nuaimi, the representative member from the UAE, was unanimously selected as the new VGT chairperson. Other members of the VGT represented on the board of management include: Australian Federal Police, National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (United Kingdom), Columbian National Police, Dutch National Police, Europol, Indonesian National Police, Interpol, Italian Postal and Communication Police Service, Korean National Police Agency, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, New Zealand Police and the Cybercrime Coordination Unit Switzerland.
The UAE will be the fourth chair of the VGT since its inception in 2003. Prior to ICE, the VGT was chaired by the Australian Federal Police and the United Kingdom’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) who established this taskforce with six founding law enforcement agencies.
Major General (Dr.) Nasser will assume the duties of chair from Ian Quinn, Deputy Assistant Director of HSI’s Investigative Services Division and Cyber Crimes Center. The Major General is presently Secretary General of the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, chairman of the Higher Committee for Child Protection.
“The UAE has been an exceptional VGT partner and I am confident that Major General (Dr.) Nasser will do a great job leading the VGT forward,” said Quinn. “General Nasser and the UAE appreciate the importance of international collaboration in the fight against child exploitation, and I know that they will continue to build on the great successes we have had in building and strengthening VGT partnerships around the world.”
Since the UAE became full members of the VGT in 2010 it has been actively involved a range of activities seeking to enhance global collaboration and cooperation in the field of child protection and prevention of online exploitation of children. Having hosted the VGT conference in 2012 and sponsoring the website the Ministry of the Interior have sought to do all it can to build capacity and capability among law enforcement agencies across the world as well as to encourage the participation of private partners in delivering a child centric approach the issue.
As secretariat, the UAE will seek, through the VGT, to expand joint international operations by encouraging law enforcement partners throughout the world to share information about criminal activity related to the sexual exploitation of children in an effort to leverage all law enforcement resources to increase the collective impact and provide safety and security for children everywhere.
The aim of the VGT is to protect children and prevent online child abuse. The VGT strives to make the internet a safer place and to identify, locate and help children at risk and hold perpetrators accountable. For more information on the VGT, visit www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com.
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