Tourism boosts many developing countries’ economies by creating jobs and increasing revenues. But the sad truth is that the influx of foreign and local visitors also increases the vulnerability of young girls and boys. Child sex tourism represents a major threat to the physical and mental well-being of young people living in or near popular tourist destinations.
Among those affected are girls and boys in resort and coastal areas of Brazil, where international tourism has surged over the last decade. The number of tourists visiting the north-east state of Rio Grande do Norte jumped from 850,000 in 1997 to more than 2 million in 2007. To reduce commercial sexual exploitation there, civil society organisation PLAN Brazil and partners in the tourist industry, civil society and government have worked together to say a collective “no” to child sex tourism. The 3-year project, which concluded in late 2014, aimed to help reduce commercial and tourism-related sexual exploitation of girls and boys in north-east Brazil in various ways.
The project has strengthened the resilience of children, adolescents and their parents to address child sex tourism through preventive actions in the municipality of Tibau do Sul in Rio Grande do Norte, and seven municipalities in the southern coastal area of Pernambuco.
It increased youth employment opportunities in the local formal labour market, with The Childhood Foundation working to have hotels and bars provide young people with on the job training and coaching. Some 350 young people in Pernambuco also received vocational training including classes to improve self-esteem, language skills, awareness of child sex tourism and ways to alert the authorities, and ability to thwart offers by sex tourists. They also underwent training on skills to become waiters, kitchen assistants, bakers and other roles. Traineeships have since been offered by hotels, bars and others to provide these young people with on the job training and coaching.
“The course gave me a lot of opportunities to overcome my limitations, to learn from the others and to find jobs,” said Lucivânia do Espírito Santo Silva, who participated in a Bakery Course in Pernambuco. “My brother and I already started working at a local restaurant and on our way home we used to talk about how excited all this was for us”.
The Foundation and PLAN Brazil also trained police officers, and some 350 personnel at child protection services and at municipalities to cater to the needs of sex tourism victims. With the strengthening of the Local Committees, the advocacy actions in the municipalities have influenced the budgetary inclusion of actions for preventing sexual violence against children and youths, especially to help other public services to work in an integrated manner.
Hundreds of Brazilian tourism companies and operators, as well as Dutch travel organisations have been encouraged toward better sustainability and social responsibility, with focus on fighting child sex tourism, with more than 300 companies and 20 associations having already signed the Code of Conduct to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, including taking a stand to make it harder for perpetrators to find accommodation for child sex tourism.
Following a joint lobby and advocacy campaign by a Dutch consortium including CSOs Plan and Defense for Children International-ECPAT, as well as tourism stakeholders TUI and ANVR as the core team, the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice developed an international certificate for good behavior to prevent sexual abuse by Dutch people working with children abroad.
The programme combining efforts of the tourism industry, civil society and government organisations officially came to an end in 2014, exceeding most of its desired outcomes and creating a solid and promising basis to continue this collaboration model. As a result of the project, at least 35,000 girls and boys will know how to protect themselves from sexual exploitation and be able to raise concerns with their families, communities and child protection systems.
In Brazil, public and private stakeholders have strengthened their formal response mechanisms, and the Brazilian and Dutch tourism sectors have been involved to raise mass awareness and dissuade prospective offenders.
Youth mobilisers are now actively involved in sensitising others in schools; some have found jobs after finishing vocational training.
lldete Mendes de Sousa from the Rio Grande do Norte State Committee for the Prevention of Violence against Children said: “The young people that today are part of this project will become agents of change in the future, and the potential they have is that they can bring everyone together and multiply information and knowledge. Sexual exploitation is a ‘silent’ violence, not always visible for society, so the work they’re doing in calling the community’s attention towards this problem is key for our future.”
One of the work streams of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation is enhancing co-operation with the private sector, civil society and governments for ensuring effective and sustainable development.
This project, now undergoing a final evaluation, offers several lessons learned on multi-stakeholder partnerships and partnering with the private sector in particular. The consortium is now upscaling this successful programme model to other regions and tourist countries.
Lessons learned include the necessity for a system for monitoring the implementation of the code of ethical conduct in tourism. There is also a need to promote successful cases in the tourism industry as these can motivate behavior change on fighting sexual abuse of children and adolescents.
“We’re working together with the teams of Plan and the Childhood Foundation, as well as the local tourism industry, to create a safer city for our children and adolescents,” said Jucileide Barros, Secretary of Social Assistance for the Municipality of Tibau do Sul. “The tourism industry is strong, but we still need to increase their engagement in the prevention of sexual exploitation in this area. We’re here with our arms open to keep developing this partnership, we know we can’t achieve this alone, it is necessary that we all work together around this cause: communities, NGOs, the touristic trade and the government.”