Travel industry joins fight for child protection
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) yesterday joined other travel industry leaders in the fight against human trafficking by officially signing The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism (www.code.org).
The code establishes six criteria to which signers promise to agree:
Establish policies and procedures against sexual exploitation of children.
Train employees/members in children’s rights, the prevention of sexual exploitation and how to report suspected cases.
Include a cause in contracts throughout the value chain stating a common repudiation and zero tolerance policy of sexual exploitation of children.
Support, collaborate and engage stakeholders in the prevention of sexual exploitation of children.
Report annually on implementation of Code-related activities.
Sabre chairman and CEO San Gilliland spoke on the topic this week at the keynote session of ACTE’s Global Education Conference in New York.
Sabre, along with Delta Air Lines and Accor Hotels, has already signed the Code, which was originally drawn up by three Swedish tour operators in 1998.
Last year, UNICEF introduced the "Children Rights and Business Principles" to further this agenda.
Meanwhile, the 2013 World Responsible Tourism Awards this week introduced a new category, "Social Responsible Tourism: Child Protection," sponsored by Visit Norway, a country with one of the best childcare systems in the world.
What can you do to help? Nominate a tourism company that supports actions to protect children at http://www.worldresponsibletourismawards.com/nominations
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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