During the 31st Summit of the World Tourism Network on Child Protection held in Berlin at the ITB, it focused on responsible business techniques and the battle against child exploitation (child protection) in tourism. Among the key areas that were pointed out as important was: raising awareness, staff training as well as implementation of different measures along the tourism value chain.
Dr. Taleb Rifai Secretary General of UNWTO while opening the summit said that there is need to come together to battle child exploitation and the dedication of the private sector is very crucial.
The Network’s Chairperson – Carol Bellamy, recollected the function of the Network being a platform on which to share any relevant research and ideal practices in the battle against child exploitation within the tourism industry.
During the meeting, the Chairperson of the International Task Force to put an End to child Sexual Exploitation within the Travel and Tourism sector, Najat Maalla M’jid, provided the initial findings of the International Study completed by the Task Force. And some of the leading challenges in the protection of children against sexual exploitation in the industry included: poor legislation, internet anonymity as well as Lack of reporting. This report strives to as well address the severe lack of strong evidence as well as comparable data regarding this matter.
Association of British Travel Agents – ABTA emphasized the need for providing staff training on how to determine possible instances of child exploitation together with coping with the recently emerging trends within the tourism industry including ‘voluntourism’ whereas the TUI Group discussed their project ‘A collective NO-to-child-sexual-exploitation in the different holiday destinations; projects to promote including of the necessary measures to avoid as well as overcome exploiting of children across the tourism value chain through including trainings and raising awareness among the communities in the tourism destinations.
Additional projects presented included one from the Network of Strategic & International Studies that assesses best international practices and another by the Airline Ambassadors International that centers on training the airline professionals to battle trafficking people.
Assisted by the UNWTO, World Tourism Network on Child Protection is actually an open-end network that features participation of multi-stakeholders of different stakeholders- governments, global organizations, NGOs, media associations and interest groups all affiliated to the tourism industry. Its mission is to prevent any kind of exploitation of children and the youth within the tourism industry (in form of child trafficking, sexual exploitation as well as child labor). The Network holds meetings every year at the international Travel and Tourism Fairs, it serves as a platform to share experiences and practices, raise awareness, formulate capacity-building tools, as well as promote adoption of professional codes-of-conduct plus any other liable practices dependent on the UNWTO International Code of Ethics for the Tourism industry.
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