Child Protection

Formed at ITB: Special interest group on Child Protection Through Tourism

Many tourism stakeholders, both from the private or public sector were disappointed when the new secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, canceled the annual meeting at ITB of the World Tourism Network on Child Protection. The group had met since 1995 at every ITB.

This disappointment, however, turned into a good day on Friday when it comes to child protection after all. Not only did SKAL International sign THE CODE, but the first meeting of a special interest group on child protection met at ITB Berlin today. This special interest group for child protection was formed under the umbrella of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP).

Juergen Steinmetz, chairman of ICTP and publisher of the eTN Group of publications, is a long-time member of this group and responded to UNWTO’s cancellation in forming a special interest group on child protection. This group and those interested in child protection today met in Berlin at ITB. The event was hosted by Deepak R. Joshi, CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board, at their stand.

 
 Steinmetz said: “I am very pleased to see such a great response to our call for a meeting here at ITB. I would like to thank our friends at the Nepal Tourism Board for their support in hosting our meeting today and hope this will be only one of many more.

“We will provide our own stand at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai and IMEX in Frankfurt for the Special Interest Group on Child Protection to meet.

“I hope the new UNWTO leadership will cooperate with our effort on this important initiative. I am pleased to hear child protection will be on the agenda set by the UNWTO Secretary-General for the upcoming executive council meeting of the Americas.

“Finally, I am encouraging anyone wanting to add to our initiative or send us statements, best practices, and news on child protection to do so. It’s important for the world to stay informed and allow good initiatives to be repeated.”

Joanna Rubinstein from Childhood USA related: “There is a great momentum after the Solutions Summit to End Violence Against Children in Stockholm last month. Around 60 governments participated in the meeting that was hosted by the Swedish government and the Prime Minister and HM Queen Silvia, the founder of Childhood. Also the DSG of the UN, Amina Mohammed, joined the meeting together with the new heads of UNICEF and WHO.

“As a board member of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, I convened a Private Sector Roundtable with 12 companies and the listed UN representatives. Our new board member is the CEO of CWT, Kurt Ekert, who joined the Roundtable and spoke in the plenary.

“The private sector engagement in ending all forms of violence against children is crucial for the achievement of the SDGs. Therefore, using the opportunity of the ITB to meet and discussing child protection in travel and tourism is a good way to complement the other international and local efforts and to advocate for action.”

Dorothy Rozga, Executive Director representing Ecpat International, announced the International Summit on Child Protection in Travel and Tourism in Bogota, Colombia, and invited everyone to attend this important summit on 6-7 June. She thanked the Government of Colombia, WTTC, UNWTO, and the Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands for their support.
37 tourism leaders registered for the meeting today, among them Dorothy Rozga; Professor Geoffrey Lipman, president ICTP and SUNx, Executive Director of Ecpat in Bangkok; Mechtild Maurer, CEO of Ecpat Germany; Damien Brosnan, program manager of The Code; Hala El Khatib, executive director, Egyptian Tourism Federation; Kiran Yadav, Vice President, International Institute for Peace Through Tourism in Mumbai India; Shiraz Poonja from Uzbekistan; Abdas Davoodi from Iran Air Frankfurt; Richard Payne, FRAPORT; Olly Wheatcroft, the Sunx Program; Laura Sanna, Travel Safety Manager, WYSE Travel Confederation; Andreas Mueseler, Ethics and Tourism; Abraham John from Travel News Digest in India; Gundo Sanders from Medien Marketing; and Michael Seipelt from eTurboNews and Business-Travel German language editions.

ICTP had invited UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvil or a representative of UNWTO to attend this meeting, but no response was received.

For more information on ICTP and how to join or contact ICTP, visit www.ictp.travel . 

By becoming a member of The Code, SKAL joined industry leaders when it comes to responsible tourism. The Code (short for “The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism”) is a multi-stakeholder initiative with the mission to provide awareness, tools, and support to the tourism industry to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.

  

The commercial sexual exploitation of children involves the buying and selling of children under 18 years of age for sexual purposes. Sexual exploitation of children in tourism, child sex trafficking, the prostitution of children, and child pornography are all forms of this crime.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism often takes place in hotels and uses other travel infrastructure. That’s why The Code believes that working with responsible tourism companies is a powerful way to keep children safe and prevent these crimes.

Erik Grimaldi
Child Protection

Celebration and Action on International Women’s Day

CALL YOUR SENATORS

On Thursday, March 8 (International Women’s Day), we need a barrage of positive calls to Senate members. Please call 202-225-3121 and you will be transferred to your Senator’s office.

Sample script for call: “My name is ___ and I live in _____ (State). I am calling to thank Senator ______ for supporting the FOSTA-SESTA package and I am calling to confirm that she/he will vote YES so that survivors and states finally will have the legal tools to hold websites accountable for knowingly facilitating human trafficking. Thank you.”

RAISE AWARENESS ON SOCIAL MEDIA — SAMPLE TWEETS AND POSTS

  • Cheering @senrobportman @SenBlumenthal @clairecmc @SenJohnMcCain @SenatorHeitkamp @JohnCornyn & 66 co-sponsors moving #FOSTA #SESTA to Senate Floor @SenateMajLdr @chuckschumer which will benefit thousands of women. #IWD2018 #PressforProgress #IamJaneDoe #ListenToSurvivors
  • Thanks @senrobportman @SenBlumenthal @clairecmc @SenJohnMcCain @SenatorHeitkamp and 66 co-sponsors moving #FOSTA #SESTA to Senate Floor @SenateMajLdr @chuckschumer which will benefit thousands of women. #IWD2018 #PressforProgress #IamJaneDoe #ListenToSurvivors #MyFreedomDay
  • @SenateMajLdr @chuckschumer please bring #FOSTA #SESTA to Senate floor for a vote. It will allow thousands of victims and survivors to hold websites facilitating sex trafficking accountable. #ListenToSurvivors #IamJaneDoe #MyFreedomDay #IWD2018 https://vimeo.com/249095210

 

Follow and tag ECPAT-USA

Erik Grimaldi
News

Message by UNWTO Secretary General on the occasion of International Women´s Day

Time is Now: Rural and Urban Activists Transforming Women’s Lives

Tourism can be a leading promulgator of gender equality as it offers a wide range of jobs for women, particularly in developing regions and rural areas where women still face major hardships. Indeed, there are many destinations around the world that rely upon the commitment and motivation of women working at all levels of the tourism supply chain. Yet the reality is that today women still often suffer from stereotyping and discrimination within the global tourism workforce.

As we observe this year’s International Women’s Day, it is time for the tourism sector to strengthen legal protection for women, ensure women’s equal pay and access to entrepreneurship resources, and promote women’s leadership in the tourism sector and participation in formal education.

As one of the sectors with the highest share of women both employed and as entrepreneurs, if gender equality is integrated into tourism planning and business development, we all gain. Greater gender equality impacts positively on the profitability, sustainability and overall competitiveness of the tourism sector.

Tourism can promote women’s empowerment through formal employment, which also impacts at the household and community level – contributing to the 17 universal Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5, ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’, and other SDGs calling for inclusion and equal rights for all (Goals 1, 8, 10 and 11).

This International Women’s Day, I call upon the global tourism community to maximize every opportunity to raise awareness of gender inequality in tourism, and to help mainstream gender issues in tourism policies and strategies.

If we all work together we can realize the equal and inclusive future that we want and help to solve the world’s greatest human rights challenge: achieving true gender equality, social and economic parity between the sexes, and empowering the women that bring success not just to travel and tourism, but to world development as a whole.

Zurab Pololikashvili

Secretary-General, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

Erik Grimaldi