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Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) Ratified by 191 nations Specifies the protection of minors below the age of 18 regardless of nationality.
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Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child(1989)Ratified by 191 nations • Specifies the protection of minors below the age of 18 regardless of nationality. • Sexual abuse of a child is a criminal act regardless of where the offence is committed.
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism • Resolutions and recommendations by travel and tourism associations e.g. UFTAA, IH&RA, IFTO, World Tourism Organization • Confirmation of the connection between tourism and sexual exploitation of minors
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism • Declaration and Agenda for Action of the World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Stockholm, 1996 Specifically mentioning the need for involvement of the travel and tourism industry
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism • 1997: project idea of Code of Conduct including monitoring mechanism • March 1998: first draft of project document • April 1998: Fritidsresor Group approached and contract signed • May-June 1998: finalisation of background document and five criteria in collaboration with UFTAA, WTO, IH&RA, Fritidsresor Group and others • August 1998: identification of pilot destinations for implementationDominican Republic, Thailand and Brazil • September-December 1998: training of staff, drafting of contract clause
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism • February 1999: Scandinavian Leisure Group approached and contract signed • Pilot destinations: Dominican Republic, Thailand and Cuba • March 1999: Apollo approached and contract signed • Pilot destinations: Dominican Republic, Thailand and Sri Lanka • April 1999: Joint press conference 95 % of Swedish market and 75 % of Nordic market
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism Evaluations of implementation at destinations • Phuket, Thailand (March 2000) • Puerto Plata, Sozua, Cabarete in the Dominican Republic (October 2000) • Natal, Brazil (December 2000) • Varadero, Cuba (April 2001) • Goa, India (December 2002) Outcome above expectation
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism Pilot destinations • Thailand • Domican Republic • Brazil • Sri Lanka • Goa, India • Cuba • Gambia • Kenya • Vietnam • Bali, Indonesia • Bulgaria • Egypt
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism CC – project partners • ECPAT Sweden • ECPAT Germany • respect Austria • ECPAT Italy • ECPAT Netherlands • ECPAT UK
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism • To establish an ethical policy regarding commercial sexual exploitation of children • To train the personnel in the country of origin and travel destinations • To introduce a clause in contracts with suppliers, stating a common repudiation of commercial sexual exploitation of children • To provide information to travelers by means of catalogues, brochures, in-flight films, ticket-slips, home pages, etc • To provide information to local "key persons" at the destinations • To report annually
Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism • Secretariat based at WTO, Madrid • Web site www.thecode.org • International Steering Committee