VZCZCXRO4802
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #0945/01 0980625
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070625Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7504
INFO RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MOSCOW 000945 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/ACE, INL/AAE-KIMMEL, EUR/RUS-WATSON, 
G/TIP-HALL AND BILLINGS, AND DRL/AE 
DOJ/OPDAT FOR LEHMANN AND ALEXANDRE, OIA FOR BURKE, 
CEOS ANDREW OOSTERBAAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM SMIG KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL OPRC RS MD
SUBJECT: SIX COUNTRIES AND USG UNITE TO FIGHT CHILD 
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED;NOT FOR INTERNET 
DISTRIBUTION 
 
This cable was co-authored by Embassies Moscow and 
Chisinau. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  From March 10 to March 14, 2008, 
delegates from Georgia, Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, 
Moldova and Kazakhstan, accompanied by Department of 
Justice (DOJ) Resident Legal Advisors (RLA) and 
Embassy representatives met in Chisinau, Moldova, to 
participate in a DOJ sponsored regional conference on 
fighting child pornography and sexual exploitation. 
Participants discussed effective legislative tools to 
combat the sexual exploitation of children, and 
investigate and prosecute effectively this 
transnational crime.  Child pornography and sexual 
exploitation remains a serious issue in the region, 
abetted by the growing use of the internet; this 
conference should spur needed legislative reform, and 
encourage closer law enforcement cooperation. 
 
 
A Regional Problem 
------------------ 
¶2. (SBU) None of the Eurasian countries invited to 
this conference possesses comprehensive legislation 
which can be used to combat the sexual exploitation 
of children and child pornography (Note: such draft 
legislation is pending before the Georgian 
Parliament).  We have evidence that countries in 
Eurasia, particularly Russia, are rapidly becoming 
havens for child pornography and sex tourism.  The 
United States Department of Justice, working closely 
with INL and U.S. Embassies in these six countries 
organized this conference in Chisinau, Moldova, for 
police, prosecutors, NGOs, and parliamentary 
representatives to address this growing problem. 
Russia and Moldova sent the largest delegations to 
the conference with a total of 11 delegates each. 
The Russian delegation included a Duma Deputy, 
prosecutor representatives, including a member of the 
Investigational Committee, and a number of NGO and 
academic representatives.  Georgia's delegation was 
the smallest consisting of a prosecutor and the RLA. 
Moldova graciously hosted the conference and sent a 
sizable delegation consisting of prosecutors, field 
investigators and the lead national prosecutor for 
the protection of children's rights. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The U.S. Ambassador to Moldova, along with 
the Prosecutor General and the Minister of the 
Interior for the Republic of Moldova, opened the 
conference, warmly welcoming the delegates to Moldova 
and stressing the importance of the work of the 
conference.  The conference focused initially upon 
necessary legislative tools to combat the sexual 
exploitation of children.  The conference then 
addressed investigational, forensic and prosecutorial 
issues that arise in the investigation and 
prosecution of these cases, including the importance 
of using a child forensic expert to work with 
victims.  Each country appointed a spokesperson to 
discuss the issue from his or her national 
perspective.  Finally, representatives from the FBI 
and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 
described a series of successful investigations 
completed with the assistance foreign law enforcement 
to highlight the importance of international 
cooperation. 
 
Myths Debunked, Legislation Models Provided 
------------------------------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) Leila Ben Debba, an attorney with the 
International Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children in Brussels (ICMEC), outlined the need for 
legislation with a global review of national child 
pornography legislation in 186 Interpol Member 
countries: 95 countries have no legislation to 
address child pornography and of the remaining 
countries that do, 55 have no definition of child 
pornography; 41 countries do not criminalize the 
possession of child pornography regardless of intent 
to distribute; and only five countries possess the 
 
MOSCOW 00000945  002 OF 004 
 
 
minimum legislation deemed necessary by experts. 
Critically, in the internet era, few countries with 
child pornography legislation outlaw computer 
offenses or regulate internet service providers, 
despite the fact that the internet is now the primary 
means for the distribution of child pornography. 
Child pornography generates more than three billion 
dollars in revenue annually, and is one of the 
fastest growing businesses on the internet. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Ben Debba debunked several myths about child 
pornography that she encounters as she addresses the 
need for effective legislation, ranging from the 
claim that possession of child pornography is 
harmless (each picture represents the victimization 
of a child; with the internet, the pictures never 
disappear and the victimization of the child 
continues without end), to the claim that people who 
possess child pornography are harmless. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ben Debba then reviewed a series of 
international legal instruments which outlawed child 
pornography, ranging from UN Conventions and 
Protocols (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 
Optional Protocol on the Rights of the Child, the 
Palermo Protocol, etc.) to Council of Europe 
Conventions and European Community Law.  Her 
presentation, a copy of which was supplied to each 
delegate, contained a legislative tool kit which set 
forth definitions of child pornography, and model 
statutes that delegates could follow or simply adopt 
as they draft legislation to outlaw child pornography 
in their countries. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The legislative portion of the conference 
concluded with joint presentations by Resident Legal 
Advisor Roger Keller from Georgia, a representative 
of the Georgian prosecutor's office, and Kerry Neal, 
an expert on child exploitation issues and 
legislative reform from UNICEF.  They discussed their 
experiences working with the Presidential 
Administration and Ministry of the Interior in 
Georgia to draft comprehensive child pornography 
legislation.  This completed package of amendments to 
the criminal code has just been submitted to the 
Georgian Parliament with the support of the Ministry 
of the Interior.  Neal also stressed the obligations 
of each country under both UN and COE conventions. 
He indicated that none of the attending countries had 
met fully the obligations they had voluntarily agreed 
to by virtue of their signature to various 
instruments.  In particular, Neal highlighted both 
the COE's Convention on Cybercrime, which set forth a 
variety of standards, as well as the Convention on 
the Protection of Children against Sexual 
Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, which was drafted in 
July 2007 and it currently open for signature.  The 
latter Convention was created to harmonize the 
protection and treatment of juveniles among member 
states and sets forth detailed legislative standards. 
In the upcoming months, UNICEF, partnering with the 
World Bank, will launch an initiative to promote 
member country compliance.  Neal indicated that the 
World Bank would be able to fund training as well as 
the purchase of equipment needed to help bring 
countries into compliance with their obligations. 
 
Investigational Issues:  Cooperate, Cooperate 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶8. (SBU) The second portion of the conference 
addressed forensic, investigational and prosecutorial 
issues that arise in the course of a child 
pornography investigation.   DOJ Child Exploitation 
and Obscenity Section (CEOS) lawyer Elizabeth Yusi 
and DOJ Forensic Expert Richard Kaplan jointly 
described how to build a child exploitation case for 
prosecution, dovetailing the technical issues that 
arise in seizing and searching computers with the 
legal and procedural issues that arise during the 
course of the criminal investigation and subsequent 
trial.  They gave examples from significant cases 
that they had worked on, and emphasized that ? to be 
successful - prosecutors and investigators must work 
together at every stage of the investigation.  Amy 
 
MOSCOW 00000945  003 OF 004 
 
 
Allen, a Child Forensic Interview Specialist with 
CARE House in the US, discussed the importance of a 
victim-centered approach when investigating these 
cases and described effective forensic interviewing 
techniques.  Allen's presentation generated 
significant interest and controversy among the 
delegations as in most Eurasian countries, child 
victims do not appear in court to testify against or 
to confront their exploiter. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Representatives from both the FBI and DHS 
described criminal cases requiring close 
transnational cooperation which they successfully 
investigated with foreign counterparts.  Audrey 
McNeill, the Acting Unit Chief of the FBI Innocent 
Images Task Force, outlined recent successes and 
asked the delegate countries to participate in the 
task force.  Marshall Heeger, the ICE attach in 
Moscow, detailed a series of child sex tourism 
investigations in which he had participated in 
Eurasia, pointing out that, absent close cooperation 
between local and U.S. police, defendants who had 
committed serious crimes escaped without punishment. 
Two of the cases which Heeger worked on with police 
from Moldova and Russia involved notorious sex 
tourists who were well known to the delegates from 
those countries. 
 
Delegations Participate in Case Studies 
-------------------------------------- 
¶10. (SBU) Each delegation spoke on the scope and 
nature of the child exploitation issue in its 
country, addressed the adequacy of legislation, and 
shared insights on transnational cooperation and best 
practices from their experience.  Each delegation was 
given a hypothetical criminal case as a problem to 
discuss, and asked to describe potential areas of 
legislative inadequacy ranging from the absence of 
laws regulating internet service providers to 
questions about how effectively to pursue and 
conclude a criminal case involving solicitation of 
a minor over the internet. 
 
Closing Words from INL:  A Long Way to Go 
----------------------------------------- 
¶11. (SBU) Peter Prahar, Chief, Law Enforcement 
Section, Moscow, Transnational Crime Officer, INL, 
closed the conference.  Noting that only 5 of 186 
Interpol member countries possessed adequate 
legislation to address child pornography, he pointed 
out that the ability of criminals to manufacture and 
distribute child pornography far outstripped law 
enforcement's ability to address the problem.  It is 
critical, he noted, to promulgate adequate 
legislation which defines child pornography, outlaws 
possession, regulates internet service providers, 
criminalizes computer facilitated offenses, and 
meaningfully criminalizes child pornography offenses. 
The issue is global, he noted, and countries which do 
not enact and enforce such legislation will become 
havens for child pornography. 
 
Comment:  Multilateral Consensus on Law Reform 
--------------------------------------------- - 
¶12. (SBU) Comment:  The conference was highly 
successful and there was a broad consensus among all 
delegations that there is a critical need for 
effective anti-child pornography legislation.  As 
noted, Georgia is close to adopting a new law.  The 
Moldovan delegation said that the GOM had already 
amended the criminal code to better address the 
issue, and further amendments are planned to bring 
Moldova into compliance with international standards. 
Delegates agreed that anti-child pornography 
legislation requires political will.  Although the 
Russian delegation broadly supported the need for 
effective legislation, anti-child pornography 
legislation in Russia is deficient, but the 
Presidential Administration has stated that no 
additional legislation is necessary.  Reforms 
introduced in the Russian Duma received no 
presidential backing and therefore failed.  Only time 
will tell whether the delegates to the conference can 
motivate their governments to make necessary 
 
MOSCOW 00000945  004 OF 004 
 
 
legislative reforms, and then use them to prevent 
exploitation, protect victims, and prosecute 
perpetrators. 
 
 
BURNS