McCanns: 'Amber alert' could've saved Maddie
Kate and Gerry McCann today pleaded for Europe-wide backing for a cross-border missing child alert system.
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Kate and Gerry McCann Mr McCann said: "This is a very simple child alert system with almost no cost implications - who would not support such a system?"
But the couple heard from MEPs today that efforts two years ago to introduce the same missing child plan failed to get sufficient support to succeed.
Today hopes were high that their high-profile loss of Madeleine will help galvanise full backing in the European Parliament and from EU governments.
They explained their continuing pain at Madeleine's disappearance last year. Mrs McCann told MEPs: "I cannot explain just how totally devastating this was. If anyone was wanting to inflict the greatest amount of pain on us then they have done that".
She told reporters the couple would treat the anniversary of Maddie's disppearance as a 'private affair'.
The McCann's discussed the American system during a visit to Washington last month and are convinced EU countries can cooperate in setting up a similar rapid response network.
Mr McCann told MEPs about the high success rate of "Amber Alert", under which nearly 400 abducted children have been successfully recovered in America since 2003 - 80% of them rescued in the crucial first 72 hours after being snatched.
By contrast Europe can only claim limited success in cross-border cooperation, with only a patchwork of partial national monitoring systems.
European data-sharing on child abduction cases is limited, and so far only France and Belgium have introduced comprehensive national child alert systems.
They enable national authorities to flash up electronic missing child information on motorway signboards within 30 minutes of a confirmed case of abduction, as well as triggering bulletins and radio and television stations, interrupting existing programming in the first hours after a case is notified.
Mr McCann said it was now up to European authorities to cooperate in spreading the same system across all EU countries.
He said statistics from America showed that a speedy response was critical in such cases and the system should only be reserved for the most serious abductions, where the authorities believe a child's life is at risk and where detailed information on the child and, hopefully, the abductor can be spread as swiftly as possible.
Then he read out the declaration that the McCann's hope European Parliament will approve.
It calls on all EU governments to introduce a missing child alert system, "the activation of which shall require the immediate supply to relevant news media, order authorities, customs and law enforcement agencies of details of the missing child and the suspected abductors".
They explained their continuing pain at Madeleine's disappearance last year. Mrs McCann told MEPs: "I cannot explain just how totally devastating this was. If anyone was wanting to inflict the greatest amount of pain on us then they have done that".
She also spoke about the fear and pain that her daughter must have been through, adding: "She is four years old".
They explained their continuing pain at Madeleine's disappearance last year. Mrs McCann told MEPs: "I cannot explain just how totally devastating this was. If anyone was wanting to inflict the greatest amount of pain on us then they have done that".
She told reporters the couple would treat the anniversary of Maddie's disppearance as a 'private affair'.
The McCann's discussed the American system during a visit to Washington last month and are convinced EU countries can cooperate in setting up a similar rapid response network.
Mr McCann told MEPs about the high success rate of "Amber Alert", under which nearly 400 abducted children have been successfully recovered in America since 2003 - 80% of them rescued in the crucial first 72 hours after being snatched.
By contrast Europe can only claim limited success in cross-border cooperation, with only a patchwork of partial national monitoring systems.
European data-sharing on child abduction cases is limited, and so far only France and Belgium have introduced comprehensive national child alert systems.
They enable national authorities to flash up electronic missing child information on motorway signboards within 30 minutes of a confirmed case of abduction, as well as triggering bulletins and radio and television stations, interrupting existing programming in the first hours after a case is notified.
Mr McCann said it was now up to European authorities to cooperate in spreading the same system across all EU countries.
He said statistics from America showed that a speedy response was critical in such cases and the system should only be reserved for the most serious abductions, where the authorities believe a child's life is at risk and where detailed information on the child and, hopefully, the abductor can be spread as swiftly as possible.
Then he read out the declaration that the McCann's hope European Parliament will approve.
It calls on all EU governments to introduce a missing child alert system, "the activation of which shall require the immediate supply to relevant news media, order authorities, customs and law enforcement agencies of details of the missing child and the suspected abductors".
They explained their continuing pain at Madeleine's disappearance last year. Mrs McCann told MEPs: "I cannot explain just how totally devastating this was. If anyone was wanting to inflict the greatest amount of pain on us then they have done that".
She also spoke about the fear and pain that her daughter must have been through, adding: "She is four years old".
Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/139995-mccanns-amber-alert-couldve-saved-maddie#ixzz1BCJUupUX
