Computer Associates Africa has, as the technology partner of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), pledged its commitment to support the fight against the scourge of missing and abused children, among the most desperate social issues in SA.
In a bid to help return missing children to their families and reduce the exploitation of the youth, CA, together with ICMEC, the South African Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (SACMEC) and the South African Police Services` Bureau for Missing Persons (BMP) established the http://za.missingkids.com Web site four years ago.
This Web site enables visitors to swiftly find up-to-date information on missing children`s cases in SA and around the world. CA`s Unicenter, BrightStor, eTrust and CleverPath solutions manage the Web site`s supporting IT infrastructure.
"The Web site allows police and the public a simple and effective tool needed when looking for a missing child. Speed is of the utmost importance when locating a missing child and the Internet allows this to happen," comments Anke Robottom, marketing manager at Computer Associates Africa.
Already the recovery rate of missing children in SA has gone up from 82% to 88% since the establishment of http://za.missingkids.com.
Comments captain Fanie van Deventer, head of the Bureau of Missing Persons and newly elected president of the SACMEC: "The Web site, for example, offers a user-friendly search function, making it far more accessible plus enabling users to obtain information quickly.
"Also, hoax e-mails - a growing concern to us - that offer information on so-called missing children can be countered effectively, as users can simply cross-reference this information on the site`s search engine to check if it is legitimate."
In addition, SACMEC will again partner with CA in project to register all street children on a proactive database. Currently, the BMP has approximately 860 children under the age of 18 years on record - deducted from the approximately 60 000 street children in SA, it`s clear that there`s a massive underreporting of missing children.
CA has installed the latest security solutions including its eTrust Anti-Virus and Firewall software, enabling SACMEC to securely obtain, store and deliver the names of these street children.
International network of missing children sites:
Argentina - ar.missingkids.com
Australia - au.missingkids.com
Belgium - be.missingkids.com
Brazil - br.missingkids.com
Canada - ca.missingkids.com
Chile - ch.missingkids.com
Italy - it.missingkids.com
Malaysia - my.missingkids.com
Mexico - mx.missingkids.com
The Netherlands - nl.missingkids.com
South Africa - za.missingkids.com
Spain - es.missingkids.com
United Kingdom - uk.missingkids.com
United States - www.missingkids.com
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The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), a private, non-profit organisation, was founded in 1998 to create and lead a coordinated, global response to the problems of international child abduction and child sexual exploitation. ICMEC is successfully building a global alliance of organisations and a network of Web sites to address these issues around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.icmec.org.
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