Child Sex Tourism
The General Assembly of Child Sex Tourism
1. Join efforts and cooperate with non-governmental organizations to eliminate organized sex tourism, at both the origin and destination of travel flows, by identifying and focusing on the critical points at which this activity can proliferate;
2. Educate staff about the negative consequences of sex tourism, including its impact on the image of the tourism sector and tourist destinations, and invite staff to find ways to remove commercial sex services from the tourism offer;
3. Develop and strengthen professional codes of conduct and industry self-regulatory mechanisms against the practice of sex tourism;
4. Adopt practical, promotional and commercial measures, such as, for example, positive self-identification of enterprises which refrain from engaging in sex tourism; banning commercial sex services, in particular involving children, on the contracted tourism premises; providing information to travellers about health risks of sex tourism, etc.;
5. Warn tourists particularly against engaging in child sex tourism, denouncing its criminal nature and the manner in which children are forced into prostitution;
6. Encourage the media to assist the tourism sector in its action to uncover, isolate, condemn and prevent all organized forms of sex tourism.
What you can do against Child Exploitation in Tourism
Individuals
Tourism Industry
Media
- Rejects all such activity as exploitative and subversive to the fundamental objectives of tourism in promoting peace, human rights, mutual understanding, respect for all peoples and cultures, and sustainable development;
- Denounces and condemns in particular child sex tourism, considering it a violation of Article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989), and requiring strict legal action by tourist sending and receiving countries;
- Requests governments of both tourist sending and receiving countries to
- Mobilize their competent departments, including National Tourism Administrations, to undertake measures against organized sex tourism;
- Gather evidence of organized sex tourism and encourage education of concerned government officials and top executives in the tourism sector about the negative consequences of this activity;
- Issue guidelines to the tourism sector insisting that it refrains from organizing any forms of sex tourism, and from exploiting prostitution as a tourist attraction;
- Establish and enforce, where applicable, legal and administrative measures to prevent and eradicate child sex tourism, in particular through bilateral agreements to facilitate, inter alia, the prosecution of tourists engaged in any unlawful sexual activity involving children and juveniles;
- Assist intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned in taking action against organized forms of sex tourism;
- Appeals to donor countries, aid agencies and other sources of finance to engage in tourism development projects seeking to enhance and diversify the supply of tourism services at the destinations affected by sex tourism, so as to foster employment opportunities in the tourism sector, develop its linkages with other sectors of the national economy, and contribute to tourism's social and economic sustainability;
- Commends the tourism companies and tourism industry organizations, as well as non-governmental organizations such as ECPAT, which have already undertaken measures against sex tourism, in particular with respect to the sexual exploitation of children and juveniles;
- Appeals to the travel trade to
1. Join efforts and cooperate with non-governmental organizations to eliminate organized sex tourism, at both the origin and destination of travel flows, by identifying and focusing on the critical points at which this activity can proliferate;
2. Educate staff about the negative consequences of sex tourism, including its impact on the image of the tourism sector and tourist destinations, and invite staff to find ways to remove commercial sex services from the tourism offer;
3. Develop and strengthen professional codes of conduct and industry self-regulatory mechanisms against the practice of sex tourism;
4. Adopt practical, promotional and commercial measures, such as, for example, positive self-identification of enterprises which refrain from engaging in sex tourism; banning commercial sex services, in particular involving children, on the contracted tourism premises; providing information to travellers about health risks of sex tourism, etc.;
5. Warn tourists particularly against engaging in child sex tourism, denouncing its criminal nature and the manner in which children are forced into prostitution;
6. Encourage the media to assist the tourism sector in its action to uncover, isolate, condemn and prevent all organized forms of sex tourism.
What you can do against Child Exploitation in Tourism
Individuals
- Raise awareness of the issue with those around you
- While in a destination:
- refrain from engaging in any form of exploitation of children
- report suspicious behaviour
- become an informed and responsible traveller
- · Volunteer with local or regional office of the NGO ECPAT - End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking - (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Pacific) or with ECPAT International to become involved in projects and activities that address child exploitation in tourism.
Tourism Industry
- Adopt professional codes and other self-regulatory measures
- Provide information and promote awareness of child exploitation to tourists and travellers through the distribution of information at departure and destination, and through media campaigns in both the general and specialized travel media
- Ensure staff both at home and in destination countries are aware of and trained on the issue and provide channels for them to report suspicious cases
- Lobby governments for more effective laws and their enforcement
Media
- Raise awareness on the “Protect Children Campaign” and the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism by using the relevant campaign material
- Report accurately on issues related to exploitation of children and avoid creating sensational headlines
- Contribute to disseminate deterrent messages to potential offenders
- Conduct training workshops on child exploitation in tourism at regional and national levels, based on the IFJ manual “Putting Children in the Right: Guidelines for Journalists and Media Professionals