Rights monitor
Business travellers against trafficking
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businesstravellers.inside |
A campaign to help business travellers join the fight against human trafficking was recently launched by non-profit Stop the Traffik. In parallel to raising awareness on the issue, the initiative provides business travellers with a means to report any exploitation incident they may have witnessed.
"We know that trafficking victims are offered to business travellers and we know that the latter are often horrified by what they see but don't take action because they don't want to get involved with the local police or don't have the time," says Steve Chalke, founder of Stop the Traffik. "With the launch of our website we are offering business people an easy way to report incidents and to change the situation." The website - www.businesstravellers.org - informs business travellers on what human trafficking is, how they can recognize it and how they can act against it. Moreover, it offers a low-key, anonymous way of reporting suspicions or incidents of exploitation, which the NGO then follows-up on. A blog features updates and news items on human trafficking worldwide.
Business travel and tourism are not responsible for trafficking, but the presence of foreigners in large numbers does create opportunities for organised crime to try to capitalise on the influx of money that business travellers bring. In the majority of cases, women and children are trafficked for business travellers to use as prostitutes. The campaign was launched at the European Union's Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, with the endorsement of over 200 European Parliamentarians. The initiative is administered from Belgium and the US and in the near future in South Africa.
The initiative is already achieving results and generating a positive response from the business community. In Spain, shortly after the campaign was featured on national television, a tour operator contacted the NGO with details of business trips abroad that were regularly arranging visits to under-age trafficked prostitutes. Stop the Traffik referred the matter to the police. In another incident, a business traveller who came into contact with a trafficked woman forced into prostitution in the Middle East, rescued her and reported the matter to the local police. The woman was arrested and deported back to her country. The man contacted the campaign and Stop the Traffik was able to connect the woman to assistance services in her country.
"Everyone, in whatever walk of life, should be able to play a part in the fight against human trafficking. Business travellers can either fuel the problem, or they can become part of the force to end it," notes Chalke. "We hope this campaign will also encourage hotels and other tourism facilities to adopt ethical codes of conduct on exploitation."
Source: UNODC.
