January 14, 2019
Enough Is Enough® Applauds the Nomination of William P. Barr for Attorney General: Asks Him to Uphold the Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge
"Making the Internet safer for children and families is a critical step in making America safe again."
-Donna Rice Hughes, President & CEO, EIE-
Great Falls, VA –In 2016, President Donald Trump signed Enough Is Enough®’s (EIE) Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge, promising to appoint an Attorney General to aggressively enforce federal obscenity, child pornography, sexual predation, and sex trafficking laws, and to advance public policies designed to prevent the sexual exploitation of children online. EIE asks Attorney General nominee William P. Barr to uphold these vital commitments to protect our nation’s children.
"We can’t expect to end the sexual exploitation of children in the digital age if all the laws on our books are not being aggressively enforced,” stated Donna Rice Hughes, EIE’s President and CEO. “It is an outrage that the United States ranks #2 in the world, next to the Netherlands, in hosting child sexual abuse / child pornography URLs. Additionally, being identified as the top producer, distributor and exporter of prosecutable obscene pornography because past Administrations (except for AG Ashcroft) have failed to uphold the obscenity laws and have given a free pass to the multi-billion-dollar porn industry, is unacceptable. This has led to a pandemic of extreme and deviant content which has become increasingly mainstream, giving our youth free and easy access to harmful content that is wrecking their innocent lives. There is a misconception that obscenity is protected by the First Amendment - it is not!”
Preventing the sexual exploitation of youth online requires a shared responsibility between the public, industry and government. A growing number of bi-partisan government commissions, task forces, safety experts and scholars have recognized the significant risks associated with unfettered Internet access by youth, and have called upon governments, policy makers, caregivers, industry and educators to take action.
Hughes additionally stated, “Governments can’t parent, and parents can’t enforce the law. Parents alone cannot prevent Internet crimes against their children. Government must do its part and enforce all the laws on the books, not just some of them. The time to drain the cyberswamp is now. Children worldwide are counting on us. In today’s divisive political climate, this is a critical and unifying issue which impacts all Americans. We are hopeful that the Senate Judiciary Committee will secure Mr. Barr’s commitment to protect children from the scourge of dangerous and illegal criminal content and activity online.”
The Pledge includes provisions for the necessary resources and tools to prosecute such crimes and calls for the establishment of public-private partnerships with corporate America to step up voluntary efforts to reduce and prevent Internet crimes against children. The research behind the Pledge is peer-reviewed and cites studies that confirm Internet pornography as a fueling factor in the sexual exploitation and abuse of children, sexual violence against women and children, addiction, decreased mental and physical well-being, compromised development of youth, sexual predation and sex trafficking.
“Today’s youth have fully integrated the Internet into their daily lives – they must be protected by those responsible for carrying out the very laws designed to protect them,” concluded Hughes who served on the bi-partisan Child Online Protection Commission, the Internet Safety Technical Task Force of the State Attorneys General of the United States, has testified numerous times before Congress and is part of The World Congress to Defend Child Dignity in the Digital Age.
Last week EIE applauded and supported Pres. Trump’s Proclamation on National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2019, which, in part, stated:
“Human trafficking harms adults and children of all ages and demographics. Through force, fraud, and coercion, traffickers push their victims into demeaning forms of abuse, including domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. These crimes often remain hidden because victims are reluctant to seek help for a variety of reasons, including language barriers, fear of traffickers and law enforcement, and lack of trust. Human trafficking destroys precious lives and threatens our Nation's security, public health, and the rule of law. It is a scourge on the global community.”
The Presidential Pledge and supporting documentation can be found here: https://enough.org/presidential_pledge. #DrainTheCyberswamp