The Regional Action Group of the Americas (GARA – Grupo de Acción Regional de las Américas) continues its campaign and calls upon destinations to prioritise child protection now, and in the view of the restart of tourism. #WeDoNotAcknowledgeChildSexTourism #NoReconocemosUnTurismoSexualInfantil The correct terminology is the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism. It’s not tourism, […]

Research from UNWTO  shows that the tourism sector is working with their communities during the pandemic —despite how companies are struggling themselves.  Employers from across global tourism are taking the lead in supporting their workers and helping the communities in which they operate, research carried out by UNWTO into the sector’s response to COVID-19 has […]

Terre des hommes (Tdh) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) have joined efforts to develop a Europe-wide child safeguarding programme aimed at providing a safe and positive experience for all children and young people who play football. Read more here. UEFA child safeguarding policy is available here.  The toolkit is available here. Sport […]

In the travel and tourism sector, service providers are another pair of eyes to protect children. The Regional Action Group of the Americas (GARA) promotes actions that protect children’s rights, so they can live and stay safe in tourism destinations. In this very particular time, as part of the travel and tourism sector, GARA members […]

COVID-19 has now spread to virtually every country in the world and has a devastating impact on people, economies, health systems, and communities. While most people’s lives are put on hold, criminals are finding ways to take advantage of the situation, including those who seek to sexually exploit children. As the world responds to COVID-19, […]

ECPAT International reaches over 100 countries In 1990, a group of people and organisations were concerned about the increase in travelling child sex offenders coming to Thailand to exploit children. As a response, they started ECPAT International to campaign against it. Over 30 years, the campaign evolved into the biggest global civil society network solely dedicated to […]

The 2019 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights focused on the role of governments as catalysts for business respect for human rights. Participants discussed what needs to be done by governments to meet their duty to protect against business-related human rights abuses. The agenda considered the Guiding Principles’ call for “a smart mix of […]

GENEVA / NEW YORK (19  November 2019) – view the original post on the UN website here. UN experts on human rights* have urged all States to sign up to a framework convention on the ethics of tourism, which they hailed as an important step forward in combating the exploitation of children in travel and […]

XII Annual Meeting of the Regional Action Group of the Americas (GARA – Grupo de Acción Regional de las Américas) for the prevention of sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism GARA held its annual meeting on 13-15 November 2019 in Asuncion, Encarnacion y Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. The meeting was hosted by […]