From 25-27 October 2005, representatives from 20 countries, the United Nations, European Union institutions and the Council of Europe joined us in Buonas, Switzerland, for the first-ever summit on missing and exploited children.

The goal in Buonas was to establish a common, universally agreed upon definition for the problem of child sexual exploitation. In order to do that, participants identified the following:

• The groups of children most vulnerable to sexual exploitation;
• Four types of sexual exploitation (child pornography, child prostitution, child sex tourism, cyber enticement of children); and
• Legal issues affecting child exploitation (i.e.,. how to define “child,” principles of double, the growing need to impose liability on “legal persons.”).

We also looked at the issue of international parental kidnapping, including compliance with the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and corporate social responsibility in the context of child protection.

A complete summary of the summit proceedings is available in English, French, German, and Spanish.