CBIS : Action Alert: Stop Human Trafficking at The World Cup

Action Alert: Stop Human Trafficking at The World Cup

Socially Responsible Investing

Action Alert: Stop Human Trafficking at The World Cup

CBIS is spearheading an effort to stop human trafficking at The World Cup. Events like The World Cup, which is estimated to draw a half-million visitors to South Africa, are often accompanied by an increase in human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children.

To draw attention to this issue, CBIS has sent a letter to the CEO's of seven major hotel chains with hotels in South Africa. The goals of the letter are to:

Share our concerns about human trafficking and child sex tourism, particularly as it relates to the World Cup;
Learn what hotels with chains in South Africa are doing to combat child sex tourism; and
Recommend best practices, and encourage hotels to take swift action to address the issue.

The CBIS letter attracted more than 300 signatories, including prominent religious groups, investment firms and other organizations and individuals from around the world.

June 10, 2010 Update: To view the responses from hotels and see next steps, click here.

To view the letter and the list of more than 300 signatories, click here.

To view the press release, click here.

YOU CAN HELP.

FOR TRAVELERS ATTENDING THE WORLD CUP: If you are attending The World Cup, download this letter (download a Word document here) and present it to the hotel manager when you check in. It alerts hotel management of your concern about this issue and asks what they are doing to prevent human trafficking at their establishment.

FOR ALL OTHER TRAVELERS: CBIS has prepared a letter (download a Word document here) to be used at any hotel. Just fill in your name and address and provide it at check-in. Where appropriate and your organization agrees, put it on letterhead.

With this action, we will let hotels know of our concerns about Human Trafficking and encourage them to formulate a response, while sharing information about a common framework used by many members of the tourism industry. Together we can work to protect children and put our faith into practice.

Please let us know when you use this letter and if you receive a response. We’ll track the number of letters distributed as well as responses received. Email us at: SRIACTION@CBISONLINE.COM.

Resources
Background on CBIS engagement on Human Trafficking

Human trafficking was raised as one of the top issues of concern to CBIS participants in a survey conducted in 2008
See our Principles newsletter for an overview of the issue, “Getting Active Against Human Trafficking,” Q2, 2009
CBIS has worked with major brands and retailers on labor issues, including child labor, for the past 15 years. Most recently, CBIS has called attention to the issue of child labor in Uzbekistan. See the article in our Principles newsletter, “A Harvest of Shame,” Q3 2009: See the article in our Principles newsletter, “A Harvest of Shame,” Q3 2009

Organizations Focused on Child Sexual Exploitation

End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT): Works to end child sex tourism and co-created The Code, a Code of Conduct on the protection of children’s rights by the tourism sector
Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA), working to introduce The Code to hotels in South Africa, in cooperation with UNICEF and ILO.
The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons of the U.S. Department of State: Includes a video from Secretary Hillary Clinton addressing human trafficking.

Additional Resources

"Human Trafficking and the 2010 FIFA World Cup," Charlotte Sutherland, Africa Intelligence
"South Africa's New Slave Trade and the Campaign to Stop It," E. Benjamin Skinner, author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-toFace with Modern-Day Slavery.
"Human trafficking in South Africa: 2010 and beyond," Sister Melanie O' Connor, Coordinator of the Counter Trafficking in Persons Desk, the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC)
The World Cup in South Africa: June 11–July 11, 2010, in 9 major South African cities

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