Type of intervention     

Offenders Beware is a wide-ranging initiative seeking to raise awareness of child sex tourism and promote the protection of children from child sex tourism. Various resources include brochures, online video, case studies and good practice guides, training resources, and an E-learning course. This intervention guide provides information on the training resources.    

Target group/s, level/s of prevention and sub-group/s:   

Primary prevention targeted towards those in the tourism industry, students, policy makers alongside general information for the media and public.    

Target population 

Tourism industry professionals.   

Delivery organisation     

End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) is an international network of organisations aiming to eradicate child sexual exploitation. Primary goals are preventing online exploitation, trafficking and child sex tourism. The Offenders Beware project was developed by ECPAT groups in Austria, German, Italy, the Netherlands, Estonia, the Philippines, India, South Africa, Kenya, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.  

Mode and context of delivery  

Face-to-face workshops and sessions. These are designed to be interactive and adaptable to the needs of the group. The resource pack includes session plans, activity sheets and slides.   

Level/Nature of staff expertise required    

Facilitators should have completed train the trainer sessions.   

Intensity/extent of engagement with target group(s)    

A minimum of three days is required for the program with up to five preferable. Groups should have a maximum of 20 participants. Sessions are interactive and include participant-led learning.   

Description of intervention 

The training resource focuses on three core modules:

Module 1: Raising Awareness of Child Sex Tourism

This consists of 4 sessions under the headings of: Child Rights and Tourism, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child-Sex Tourism, Child-Sex Tourism: Where, Who and How?, and The Legal Framework to Protect Children.

Module 2: Ensuring Child Protection

Sessions included in module 2 are: The Unique Position of the Tourism Professional to Prevent CST, Developing and Enforcing Child-Protection Policies and Procedures within a Company, and How to Identify a Possible Case of CST.

Module 3: What you can do to Combat Child Sex Tourism

The final section includes: The Child-Protection Code: What is it?, The Child-Protection Code: The Signing Process, The Child Protection-Code: International Structure, The Importance of Public Awareness by the Private Sector, Working with Child-Rights Organisations, and Working with Companies or National Tourism Authorities.

Within module 3 participants are introduced to the Child Protection Code. This was developed by ECPAT as a tool for child protection within the tourism industry. Companies and organisations wishing to sign up to the code must agree to the following criteria: development of policies relating to child sexual exploitation and child sex tourism; to train company staff regarding child sex tourism; making it contractually binding that external partners do not allow or facilitate child sex tourism; providing information about company policies and child sex tourism to customers; maintaining contact with key organisations and child protection groups in-country; and reporting of company implementation of the code to a local representative.

The full resource guide can be accessed here: https://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Protecting-Children-from-Sexual-Exploitation-in-Tourism-An-ECPAT-Training-Resource-Kit.pdf

ECPAT produced a short online clip entitled ‘Children are not a Tourist Attraction’ as part of their awareness raising campaign. This can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT7TQ-G7Nzw.

Evaluation     

Over the three-year duration of the project over 85 sessions were delivered to tourism students with a reach of over 3000. In addition, more than 35 sessions reached over 1000 tourism professionals. Participation in large tourism fairs enabled interaction with over 500000 people (Unicef, 2011).

References     

Eradicating Child Prostitution and Trafficking. (2009). Offenders beware! Child sex tourism case studies. Retrieved from https://www.defenceforchildren.nl/media/1650/rapport-over-de-vervolging-van-kindersekstoeristen.pdf

Eradicating Child Prostitution and Trafficking. (2010). Protecting children from sexual exploitation in tourism. Retrieved from https://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Protecting-Children-from-Sexual-Exploitation-in-Tourism-An-ECPAT-Training-Resource-Kit.pdf

Unicef. (2011). The code quarterly international newsletter no. 27 March-June 2011. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.or.jp/code-p/news/pdf/CCNewsletter-27.pdf

Contact details     

Website:  https://www.childprotection-tourism.org/?lang=en

Email: kreissl@ecpat.de

RATING: Pioneering

INFORMATION CORRECT AT JUNE 2021