Radisson Hotel Group announced a partnership with ECPAT-USA,
a policy organization seeking to end the commercial sexual exploitation of
children, and has become the latest hospitality company to sign the
organization's Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct, joining several hotel,
airline and travel management companies. Known as The Code, it is a voluntary
set of business principles travel and tour companies can implement to help prevent
sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.
The signing coincides with the rollout of Radisson's
remastered responsible business training program, which includes, among other
modules, training for all staff at the company's more than 1,100 hotels on how
to detect sex trafficking and human trafficking. The program began in Europe,
the Middle East, Africa and Asia/Pacific earlier this year and will be rolled
out in the Americas by the end of the year, according to a company
spokesperson. In addition, Radisson is equipping its hotels with ECPAT-specific
tools including posters, guidance on legislation and awareness videos.
According to the International Labor Organization, more than
40 million people are living in slavery worldwide, and one in four victims are
children. Members of the travel industry began to partner with ECPAT at least
15 years ago. In January, the organization introduced a training
module for travel and event managers, which
showed not only what human trafficking signs to look for but also how corporate
travel and meetings professionals can address human trafficking in contracts
with suppliers. It also launched its 20By20
campaign in July with a goal of training 20,000 event industry
professionals by July 30, 2020.
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