by Lannie Walker

Guam - A weeklong regional conference hosted by the U.S. Attorney's Office aimed at fighting sexual crimes and spreading education ends today. The first Pacific Regional Conference, hosted by the U.S. Attorney's Office, wrapped up today at the Sheraton Resort in Tamuning.

U.S. Attorney Alicia Limtiaco was one of the many speakers at the conference where topics ranged from human trafficking, child physical and sexual abuse to and cyberbullying an Internet sex crimes. Limtiaco says they had a full house everyday, saying, "Today we talked about child sexual exploitation, Internet dangers, and keeping out children safe online. We discussed some of the localized issues for Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands."

Such are ISSUES, she said, that are not limited to other parts of the world. "We have to recognize that we have a problem here in our community and really come together again and work to really combat and fight against child sexual exploitation."

Working toward that goal with Limtiaco is Rami Badawy, senior attorney for the National Center of Prosecution of Child Abuse at the National District Attorneys Association. "Our role is really to provide not only training, but technical assistance to prosecutors to the investigators and the allied child abuse professionals that are here attending this conference."

Like the speakers, participants came from a wide range of federal and local government agencies, military organizations, non-profit groups, and the medical and education communities.

Dr. Jose Cruz, a member of the Guam Education Policy Board, described what he will take away from the conference by saying, "The criminal mind is creative and this conference actually I even learned that we really have to expand our minds and use technology they are talking about. I think I am really impressed with that."

Guam's religious community was also represented. Sister Mariano Arroyo of the Archdiocese of Agana said the gathering opened her eyes, telling KUAM News, "The global reality of abuse and trafficking just gives us pause to certainly reflect on it and pray about it and think how can we as a community gather our selves to be vigilant and responsive to the needs of our people."

The conference also reached those off Guam's and the CNMI's shores such as prosecutor Seini Puamau, who came from Fiji to attend. "They have got tremendous experience with the problem and better than that they are willing to come together and pull their knowledge and research together to combat this crime and in Fiji we need to learn to do that different agencies working together to address the problem," she said.

While today is the last day of the conference, Limtiaco tells us education on the various topics covered here will continue with public outreach programs.