Launch of a campaign to protect children and youth against sexual exploitation in tourism
Bern, 02.11.2010 - Protection of children and youth against sexual exploitation in tourism is being greatly intensified - Switzerland, Germany and Austria are working together to fight child sex tourism across borders. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO and ECPAT Switzerland, the institute of Child Protection Switzerland that works to prevent child prostitution, launched the trilateral “Campaign to Protect Children and Youth against Sexual Exploitation in Tourism” on 2 November 2010 in Bern. At the centre of the campaign are a widely distributed video spot and new opportunities to report information online in cases of suspicion. For this purpose, Switzerland has developed the world’s first online registration form of its kind: www.stopchildsextourism.ch.
Child sex tourism is not rare. Even in remote holiday destinations, sexual exploitation of children is a criminal offence. It can be punished if there are substantial suspicious circumstances, but the percentage of undetected crime is high and evidence is hard to produce.
This is to change. On 2 November 2010, one day before the opening of the national tourism sector congress, Travel Trade Workshop TTW, in Montreux, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO and ECPAT Switzerland launched the “Campaign to Protect Children and Youth against Sexual Exploitation Tourism”, in Bern. Shortly before, German-speaking neighbours Germany and Austria heralded for their part the trilateral alliance for the protection of children, consisting of governments, authorities, child protection organisations and travel agencies.
Partners in the campaign are SECO in Switzerland, the German ministry for families and for the economy, the federal ministry for economy, families and youth in Austria and the each country’s representative of the international child protection organisation ECPAT. The aim is to promote awareness raising about child sex tourism in the three countries by using targeted measures. According to Eric Scheidegger, Deputy Director of SECO, “we are expressing the political and economic will, beyond borders, for all children and youth in the world to be able to live with dignity”.
Politics is ready
The SECO has been an active participant in the development of the Child Protection Code in the tourism sector for years and supported its implementation abroad with economic development cooperation projects. The awareness raising campaign is a continuation of the code of practice for the tourism industry, initiated in Switzerland in 2003 by ECPAT. It contributes to placing the responsibility for protecting children and youth against sexual exploitation in tourism on many shoulders. Eric Scheidegger from SECO emphasises that “our commitment must be effective in the long term. I call upon all actors in the Swiss tourism sector to join us in order to support our campaign.”
Appeal to travellers to “Keep your eyes open and take action”
The aim of the campaign is to tighten up the network that protects minors. For example, law enforcement agencies should be made aware of more cases of suspicion. To achieve this, the new alliance is particularly keen to get responsible travellers and employees of the tourism industry on board.
“We can prevent sexual abuse, if we don‘t look away”. That is also the emphatic message of the short video spot* “Little Souls”, which will be widely distributed by the alliance of countries as the first awareness raising measure. Its aim is to encourage travellers to register cases of suspected child sex tourism using an online form.
For the first time, all three countries will make easy-to-remember addresses available where information can be reported. The Swiss registration form, www.stopchildsextourism.ch, which has been recognised in international specialist circles as an example of “best practice” was used as a basis. It was developed in 2008 by the Federal Office of Police, fedpol, in collaboration with ECPAT Switzerland. Jacqueline Fehr, President of Child Protection Switzerland, explained at a press conference that “we can break the mould with this cross-border communication offensive. We are certain that it will enable us to uncover more incidents and therefore protect children better.”
Involvement of the tourism industry
The tourism industry is also supporting the campaign. TTW Management AG is promoting the video spot at the specialist congress in Montreux and, in parallel, the five renowned signatories** of the Child Protection Code (formerly the Code of Conduct) also pledge to distribute a new e-learning course for tourism professionals on preventing child sex tourism (www.childprotection-tourism.org). The aim of this free tool is to enable employees in the tourism industry to react to information and to make reports. The course, which has so far been produced in seven languages, has been developed by ECPAT Germany in collaboration with the tourism industry.
* The video spot “Little Souls” was produced based on the film “Witness”, developed by children’s organisation “Terre des Hommes” and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth”.
** In Switzerland, the following companies have signed the Child Protection Code: Hotelplan Group (2003), Kuoni Travel Holding (2006), ACCOR Hospitality Switzerland (2007), Globetrotter Travel Services (2007), Schweizerischer Reisebüro-Verband (2008).
Address for enquiries
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO
Holzikofenweg 36
CH-3003 Bern
Tel. +41 58 462 56 56
medien@seco.admin.ch
Publisher
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
http://www.seco.admin.ch
