UNESCO on Tuesday backed the launching of a new campaign to combat the misuse of the Internet by those who sexually abuse children. The campaign, Innocence in Danger, brings together child advocacy groups, the Internet industry and law enforcement agencies in an effort to crack down on child pornographers and child abusers. Homayra Sellier, the organization's president, said the campaign aims to "to inform public opinion about the need to act urgently and together and to contribute to harmonizing legislation on child rights." Some 23,000 of the 3.8 million Web sites on the Internet advocate sex with children. Sellier, speaking at a UN Headquarters press conference sponsored by UNESCO, said North American and several European countries play a key role in the worldwide production, distribution and consumption of child pornography. Many children trafficked for sex slavery end up contracting AIDS, she said . Innocence in Danger plans to launch a "watchdog" Web site by next year to track pedophilia groups around the world. Parry Aftab, executive director of the Cyberangels Internet safety group, said the action must coordinate efforts by law enforcement agencies across the globe "to contribute on a worldwide basis what we learn." She said the campaign must also educate children about the dangers, "just like we tell them not to get in a car or take from a stranger." In the United States alone, 17 million children use the Internet. And according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, at least one person travels across state boundaries every day to lure a child met on the Internet Aftab praised the Japanese authorities, who have closed a number of loopholes that allowed pornographers to operate virtually unfettered (BBC Online, 16 Jun). UNESCO proposed the "watchdog" Web site at a conference in January (Source : UN Press Conference on Child safety on Internet) Links on this site: Communication and Society - Children and Youth issues Sexual Abuse of Children, Child Pornography and Paedophilia on the Internet: An international challenge - Expert Meeting, UNESCO, Paris, 18-19 January        Contact:Choy Arnaldo, UNESCO, Communication Division