Zain Group, the leading mobile network operator in the Middle East, has formally joined the GSMA Mobile Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Content.

The Alliance’s role is to ensure that individuals or organisations wishing to use, or profit from child sexual abuse content using the mobile environment, are prevented from doing so.

Zain is the first mobile operator in the Middle East to formally join the initiative, the company said in a statement.

Commenting on Zain’s commitment to the Alliance, Group CEO, Nabeel Bin Salamah, stressed the fundamental importance and critical nature of this initiative and urged other operators in the region to follow Zain’s example.

“The safety and well-being of our children is paramount and we must do all that is within our power to protect them now and in the future. At Zain, we are committed to operating by the highest ethical standards to ensure that mobile technology is used for the support, improvement and safety of the communities we serve,” he noted.

'This alliance has proactively played a key role in reducing the growth of child sexual abuse mobile content around the world by highlighting the dangers posed by those who use the latest technology to exploit minors for their own ends,' Bin Salamah added.

Tom Philips, chief regulatory affairs officer, GSMA said, 'We welcome Zain Group to the Mobile Alliance and are delighted that they are joining our initiative which aims to stem, and ultimately reverse, the growth of online child sexual abuse content, maintaining a safer mobile environment for all of our customers.'

'With the ubiquity of technology, an increase in illegal content displayed on the net has become a growing concern and this initiative assists service providers in eradicating any inappropriate content related to child abuse,' he added. 
 
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry with its members representing more than 4.5 billion GSM and 3GSM connections.

Through a well-defined combination of technical measures, co-operation and information sharing, this specific alliance, made up of mobile operators from around the world, will create significant barriers to prevent the misuse and inappropriate exploitation of mobile networks and services for hosting, accessing or profiting from child sexual abuse content, the GSMA said in a statement.-TradeArabia News Service