In the last decades many corporations in the world started to increasingly
acknowledge their role as corporate citizens in the society, and actively
scrutinize the values supporting their operations. The travel and tourism
industry makes no exception to this trend, and initiated efforts towards
preventing and reducing the negative environmental and socio-cultural
impacts which improperly managed tourism operations might induce.
One of the most sensitive issues that the tourism industry faces in
the last years refers to the phenomenon of commercial sexual exploitation
of children mainly in developing countries, by tourists coming often
from developed countries.
The travel and tourism industry did not remain passive to this social
challenge, but responded by cooperating with a non-governmental organization,
ECPAT, in creating
The Code of Conduct for
the Protection of Children from Sexual Commercial Exploitation in Travel
and Tourism
Suppliers of tourism services adopting the code commit themselves to
implement the following six criteria:
- 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 travellers
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.
Signing up for implementing The Code demonstrates you're the commitment
of the tourism industry for practicing a socially responsible, child-wise
tourism.
Since 1997 and until 2004, the Code developed as a project implemented through national ECPAT groups, with an international Steering Committee financially supported by ECPAT Sweden and working on a voluntary basis.
Directly following the successful Code launch in North America, held at the UNICEF headquarters in New York on April 21, 2004, the Code became non-profit organization, formally registered in Sweden with number 802418-2167, established May 5, 2004 (the Code Statute).
