The issue of modern day slavery, particularly the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children, is of major concern to the world community; its elimination is a key priority with many nations around the world jointly contributing resources to support the development and implementation of effective measures to end this repugnant phenomenon.

CHILDWISE TOURISM TRAINING Copyright Accor Asia 15 key points to help trainers explain important issues featured on Child Wise Tourism Training Video: 5 ABOUT PROTECTING CHILDREN The customer is not always right. Child abuse should be reported to the authorities. All children have the right to live free from sexual abuse and violence. All countries should have a national plan to protect children. Travel and Tourism professionals need to know the law. Child sex tourism can ruin a destination.     5 ABOUT WHAT EACH HOTEL SHOULD DO Develop a policy to protect children Ongoing training for staff and managers Report child abuse to authorities Raise awareness in your company Raise money and provide opportunities to help children and young people.     5 TO BE TOLD TO OTHER PEOPLE Speak up, don’t ignore child abuse and exploitation. You can do something to help. Child abuse can happen anywhere. Sex offenders can be any age, nationality, religion or social status. Culture should never be used as an excuse for the abuse of a child. There are national laws in each country to punish people who abuse and exploit children. Over 30 countries have extra-territorial laws.

The government of Thailand actively supports such global initiatives and is currently a party to several international conventions and protocol.

	Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
	International Labour Organization No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour
	Convention on the Elimination of Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
	The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980
	The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption 1993
	Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Person, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime
	Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography 2000.

On 16 May 2000, the Cabinet approved a policy and National Action Plan to eradicate and prevent violence against women and children and included this in the national agenda.

The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and the Coordinating Subcommittee to Address Problems of Women and Children worked to establish a national policy and plan to prevent and solve problems related to the trafficking of women and children in domestic and international markets.

The National Action Plan provides guidelines for the work of all related agencies. It covers:

1. Prevention
2. Assistance and protection
3. Suppression and enforcement
4. Repatriation and social integration
5. Data collection, monitoring and evaluation
6. Plans to develop management mechanisms
7. International cooperation

Various activities related to the implementation of the national plan and policy are being undertaken in a joint effort by private sector organizations and government agencies. These include the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Public Health, NGOs, and international organizations such as the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN:
A TAT INITIATIVE
As an agency of the Thai government, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) supports and works within the national plan to prevent human trafficking.

In order to reiterate the message that Thailand does not support or promote sex tourism and extends full cooperation to the agencies that are working to solve and prevent the problem, as part of the tourism agency’s overall plan for 2006, TAT will be launching a public relations campaign to raise public awareness. TAT will be publishing a pamphlet entitled “Protect Our Children” for distribution at TAT offices overseas, airports and elsewhere.

In its work to prevent child sex tourism, TAT wants to make it unambiguously clear that the Thai government does not condone or support child sex tourism and is willing to cooperate fully with other countries in working earnestly to solve this problem.

TAT is taking part in the following activities to combat child trafficking:

1. Membership of the World Travel Organization (WTO) Task Force to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism. This is an umbrella committee that oversees activities on ethics and training for people in the tourism industry and publishes informative materials for wide distribution. The task force is led by an executive committee.
   
   
2. Membership of the Steering Committee on the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, which is in charge of various activities to promote ethics and raise awareness.
   
   
3. Jointly hosted the TAT/WTO Regional Consultation on the Protection of children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism on 1-2 July 2001 at the Asia Hotel, Bangkok
   
   
4. Public relations activities to build consciousness among tourism industry workers and tourists by educating them on the legal penalties for the commercial exploitation of children or purveying children for sexual services; encouraging them to see the value of children and urging them to help protect children. These activities are undertaken through various media such as newsletters, pamphlets and websites.
   
   
5. Joining ECPAT International’s Bangkok office and the Accor Group to hold a training session on “Preventing Child Abuse in Tourism Destinations” for management-level and front desk personnel of the Novotel hotels in Bangkok. Information posters have been placed at all Accor Group hotels (Novotel, Sofitel and Le Meridien) in Thailand.
   

THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST THE SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN TOURISM
Introducing ECPAT
End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes
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ECPAT AND ACCOR PARTNERSHIP
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Related article for reference
THAILAND IN THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST THE COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN (CSEC): 2002
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