Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Joins International Children's Organization

Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Joins International Children's
Organization

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Centre
for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) announced today that Maura Harty has
been hired as Senior Policy Director.

Ms. Harty will work with foreign leaders in the public and private sectors to
create a global network of national operational centers similar to the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the United States, Child
Focus of Belgium, The Smile of the Child in Greece, and FOCUS: The Romanian
Center for Missing & Sexually Exploited Children. She will be the
organization's liaison with key international groups including the United
Nations, The Hague Conference on Private International Law and others.

She will also oversee the organization's efforts to implement new legislation
and strengthen existing laws around the world that address child pornography.
The organization released a report in 2006, Child Pornography: Model
Legislation & Global Review which found that 95 of the 184 Interpol member
countries around the world had no laws addressing child pornography and many
other countries had inadequate laws.

Ms. Harty is an experienced diplomat with 27 years of experience at the U.S.
Department of State. During her tenure at the State Department, Ms. Harty
served as Special Assistant to Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Executive
Assistant to Secretary Warren Christopher, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of
Paraguay, and Executive Secretary of the Department to Secretary Colin Powell.
Most recently, from 2002 to 2008, she served as Assistant Secretary of State
for Consular Affairs. She retired from her position at the State Department
earlier this year.

Working in partnership with governments around the world is critical in the
effort to protect children from abduction and sexual exploitation. Ms.
Harty's international and diplomatic experience will be a tremendous asset in
the organization's efforts to both increase awareness on a global basis about
the problems of child victimization, and to work with individual countries on
a solution.

About the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
ICMEC is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) nongovernmental organization. It is
the leading agency working on a global basis to combat child abduction and
exploitation. It is the sister organization of the National Center for Missing
& Exploited Children in the United States.

SOURCE National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, Communications
Department, +1-703-837-6111