1 Protecting children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism - responsibility of the private sector Camelia Tepelus, Secretariat Coordinator - Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism Expert Consultations for World Congress III UNICEF IRC, Florence, April 21-23, 2008
23
Embed
Protecting children from sexual ... - unicef-irc.org
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1
Protecting children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism
- responsibility of the private sector
Camelia Tepelus, Secretariat Coordinator - Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism
Expert Consultations for World Congress IIIUNICEF IRC, Florence, April 21-23, 2008
2
� Tourism Industry – largest economic sector in the wo rld; force for peace, cultural understanding, and economic growth… but also a potential magnet for sexual exploitation of women a nd children
�CSR in tourism - environmental issues, social issue s
�What can the industry do? Voluntary initiatives – Th eCode.org, IBLF, ChildWise Tourism, etc.
�TheCode.org – a system of good practice, implementati on examples
�Challenges & lessons learned from working with the private sector
�Conclusions
CTepelus /Florence, April 22, 2008
overview
3
Tourism Sector Tourism Sector ––policy answers to the problem of child sex tourism policy answers to the problem of child sex tourism
• WTO declaration on the Prevention of Organized Sex Tourism (1995).
• International Association of Air Travel (IATA) – Final Resolution Condemning Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (1996)
• International Hotel and Restaurant Association- Resolution against commercial sexual exploitation of children (1996).
• Global Code of Tourism Ethics (1999).
4
World Tourism Organization –Global Code of Tourism Ethics
• Adopted in 199 by 139 governments of member states, ratified by the UN in 2001:
Art.2 – Sexual exploitation, in any of its forms, especially sexual and in particular affecting children, violates the fundamental objectives of tourism, and constitutes a negation of its essence. According to international law, sexual exploitation must be combated without reservations, with the cooperation of all member states, and must be rigorously sanctioned in national legislation of both tourism destination and origin countries.
2000-2003 – European Union funds pilot projects engaging the tourism industry in the fight against CST
5
• Project engaging the tourism private sector (tour operators, travel agencies, hotels, etc)in preventingand combatingsexual exploitation of children related to travel and tourism.
• Initiated 1998, by ECPAT Sweden and Nordic tour operators, with the support of the WTO, currently also supported by UNICEF
• Over 600 companies in 23 countries are currently signatories of the Code
Towards a tourism industryCode of Conduct
www.thecode.org
6
Code of conduct for the protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism
www.thecode.org1. Have an ethical corporate policy against the
exploitation of children in tourism
2. Educate and train the company staff
3. Inform travellers
4. Introduce specific clauses in contracts with su ppliers
5. Contact ’key persons’ at the destinations
6. Report annually
CTepelus / Vienna, Feb 15, 2008
7
8
International level – Steering/Executive Committees
2008-2010• Tour Operators Initiative for Sustainable Tourism
Development (UNEP.UNESCO.WTO) – Chair, Fausta Borsani, Kuoni Holding
• ECPAT International
• UNWTO, UNICEF, SECO
• DRV, Sol Melia, Accor Hotels• Fair Trade in Tourism, South Africa; Fundacion Paniamor,
Costa Rica
National level – ECPAT groups, NGOs, UNICEF, governments
9
Standardized procedure
• Since 2007 – standard procedure
- Application stage
- Action Plan
- Approval – signing of the Code
- Annual reporting – monitoring
- TheCode.org – organizational strategy 2008-2010
10
Implementation results
• The Code adopted by over 600 companies in 23 countries: Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America – tourism operators, hotels, tourism industry associations
• 80% of the Nordic tour operating sector signed the Code
• 23 members of the Tour Operators’ Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development (UNEP.UNESCO.UNWTO)
• Tourism industry associations from Germany, Austria, Italy, USA, the Netherlands, Mexico, Belize
• Awarded as a “Tourism for Tomorrow” project by British Airways, 2003
11
...Results
• The Code in 2008 – signed by over 600 companies in 23 countries
• Impact: over 30 million tourists use the services of a Code signatory company
• Recognition as best practice for the protection of children’s rights and against trafficking in human beings by OSCE, UNWTO, UNICEF, ILO
• Working on standardizing implementation procedures, reporting and monitoring
Launch of the Code in North America, April 21, 2004, NY (UNICEF) – signing by Carlson and the US State Department
12
World Tourism Forum for Peace and Sustainable DevelopmentBrazil, Porto Alegre, Dec. 2006
Outcomes:-Regional South American Task Force on the Protection of Children; -‘Sustainable Tourism & Childhood’ on the agenda of the II nd South American ministerial meeting;- Training Course for MERCOSUR officials from tourism ministries and NTAs;- Regional awareness raising campaign: 12 countries in South America.
Working at regional level - South America
13
Working at regional level - Central and Eastern Europe, with the support of OSCERomania, Bulgaria, Albania and Montenegro
(2005 - 2007)
14
AfricaKenya – trainings Oct.2005 & Dec. 2007 for the Kenyan
Ministry of Tourism (a project of Respect Austria).
15
Cooperation – origin - destination countries
16
17
Information on company websites
18
Japan Committee for UNICEF and ECPAT/STOP worked with top Japanese companies signing the Code in 2005, and continuing with an awareness
raising campaign - catalogues of JTB, JATA, JAL -
19
Costa rica Campaign 2003Costa rica Campaign 2003Costa rica Campaign 2003Costa rica Campaign 2003Costa rica Campaign 2003Costa rica Campaign 2003Costa rica Campaign 2003Costa rica Campaign 2003--------2005 2005 2005 2005 2005 2005 2005 2005 ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘we mean itwe mean itwe mean itwe mean itwe mean itwe mean itwe mean itwe mean it’’’’’’’’
20
Information displayed in key transit areas Information displayed in key transit areas Information displayed in key transit areas Information displayed in key transit areas Information displayed in key transit areas Information displayed in key transit areas Information displayed in key transit areas Information displayed in key transit areas ––––––––
Costa rica Campaign Costa rica Campaign Costa rica Campaign Costa rica Campaign Costa rica Campaign Costa rica Campaign Costa rica Campaign Costa rica Campaign
Protection of children’s rights as element within a context of sustainable tourism and corporate social responsibilityChild protection – element of quality assurance for the companies engagedThe importance of cooperation with key partners(ECPAT network, UNWTO, tourism private sector, UNICEF) Willingness to adjust strategy to local conditions- engaging all stakeholders Recognizethe efforts and rewardresponsible companiesFunding– 2007 strategy for organizational development
22
Materials available
• UNWTO training modules for tourism professionals and youth
• CDROM – global good practices.
• Code of conduct manual – overview and examples of implementation