The project “Everybody against cholera”, carried by two young people studying in ESSEC Cameroon made it to the final and then won it, on 13th April, 2012. This was the fourth time the Red Helmets Foundation, whose President is former minister Nicole Guedj, has organized this event. The competition was opened to every French-speaking student, and was sponsored by Orange. Read more
Topic: Since this morning, Facebook is part of the 52 official partners of the French Amber Alert, so called "Alerte Enlèvement". First time in Europe !Read more
Originally initiator of the call for the spread of the French Amber Alert on Facebook, Nicole Guedj, former State Secretary for victims rights, sees her fight coming to an end.
After the young Elise André’s kidnapping, in May 2009, Nicole Guedj created a group on Facebook. In a few weeks, more than 250.000 people became members of this initiative. Since then, Kidnapping Alerts concerning Ibrahima Nacir Doucoure, in February 2010, and the two girls in September 2011, were published on this group.
To strengthen this group and widen its use, Nicole Guedj was willing to establish an official contract with Facebook, so that people who first agree to it would receive on their “wall” the description of the kidnapped kid. Facebook France answered that call and will sign the French Amber Alert tomorrow, in the Ministry of Justice.
“A partnership with Facebook would be useful. We have to use all new technologies to stop child kidnappers. They have to know that with the old media, the Internet or with the phone, millions of people will be aware of the kidnapping, and it could prevent them from acting out”, was hoping Nicole Guedj, on the 1st of March, in an article published in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro.
Convinced of the importance of new technologies to help victims, Nicole Guedj committed herself to the creation of the ‘kidnapping e-@lert’ on the Internet, in May 2009, in partnership with Orange, Free, SFR, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Dailymotion, blogSpirit, l’ASIC (Internet Community Services Association) and Silicon Sentier.
Morever, The Red Helmets Foundation, chaired by herself, developed a mobile application, downloaded by more than 150, 000 I-phone, Androïd and Blackberry users. For the first time, the application was activated when Charline and Julie disappeared, on the 18th of September 2011.
According to Nicole Guedj, once Facebook will sign the Convention, a last step will still need to be taken: extending the French Amber Alert to European countries.
She declares that “Since its creation, the Kidnapping Alert has been very efficient. Progress has been made as well and I congratulate myself for it. However, more improvements could be made. It’s been a long time I am calling for the extension of the alert to the European scale. Nowadays, it’s very easy for an abductor to cross borders; alert bulletins issued in the same time in several countries would prevent even more kidnappers from acting out. Our Belgian and Swiss neighbors, whom I had supported in their fight to implement the kidnapping alert in their own country, agree to cooperate. Let’s bet this cross-border agreement will be effective before the activation of a new alert”
