Hamilton, October 7 (PL-RHC) –- Child protection and victim identification experts from 33 countries have met in Bermuda to discuss their experiences to fight child abuse and child sex trafficking.

The 140 specialists from different nations who attended the Interpol conference agreed to share information that could potentially uncover links among investigations of child sexual abuse worldwide.

The media highlighted that the 32nd Meeting of Interpol Specialists Group on Crimes Against Children from also brought together private sector partners. They discussed topics including child sex trafficking, Internet-based child sexual exploitation, analysis of abuse material, cyber-bullying and enhancing victim identification efforts, as well as partnerships between law enforcement and the private sector.

A growing concern examined by the participants is the rise in "sex-extortion" cases, a type of blackmail where members of organized criminal groups solicit victims to share explicit images of themselves, then the blackmailer threatens to circulate the images on-line unless the victim pays a large sum of money.

"There are a number of areas where there is an international component, including Internet crimes of distributing child abuse material, direct contact and abuse of children through social networking sites, traveling sex offenders and child trafficking. This means that law enforcement officers have to act locally, but think globally," said Bermuda Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva.

To support member countries in identifying the victims of these crimes and locating the perpetrators, the Interpol International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database contains images of sexual abuse material relating to numerous unidentified victims that police around the world are hoping to rescue.

To date 5,140 victims of sexual abuse have been rescued so far through use of the ICSE database.