BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Gabrielle Shaw joined the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in February 2008 as the Head of International and Relations.

This role is a diverse and challenging one and includes leading on the child protection work for G8, chairing and taking forward the work of the European Financial Coalition, working with such bodies as the UN and overseeing the work of the Virtual Global Taskforce – an international alliance of law enforcement agencies.

Child sexual exploitation is a borderless crime and therefore international links are crucial to every area of CEOP’s business.  As such, Gabrielle’s role is pivotal – creating and maintaining relationships with law enforcement agencies, governing bodies and charities internationally, bidding for funding from various sources such as the EU to take forward work to combat this crime worldwide and to raise general awareness of the work of CEOP. 

As well as her international work, Gabrielle is also Staff Officer for the ACPO Child Abuse Investigations Working Group and has recently led on a review of the child protection portfolios.Gabrielle also deputises for the Head of the Harm Reduction Faculty at CEOP.

The first case study will examine the new initiative planned by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre in the United Kingdom, supported by the UK’S Foreign and Commonwealth Office and VISA Europe, to form a South Eastern European Advisory Panel. This will build on our experience gained with our CEOP Advisory Panels in various Asian countries; the aim of these Advisory Panels is to create an informed group to act as a critical and constructive friend to ensure that the activity undertaken by CEOP is aimed at reducing harm to children in that particular country which is caused / influenced by UK sex offenders. CEOP is committed to working with the Advisory Panels to ensure that our work remains relevant, focused and effective, cognisant of the particular issues in each country.

The second case study in this presentation will focus on the European Financial Coalition (EFC). The EFC began on 1 July 2009 and is majority-funded by the European Commission. It is a multi-stakeholder initiative, led by CEOP, and is designed to combat the commercial sale and distribution of child abuse images. The EFC is unique in its partnership approach, uniting as it does law enforcement, payment service providers, industry, NGOs and others. We are actively seeking to raise awareness of the EFC across Europe and to let organisations know how they can become involved in this important piece of work.