Action Programme against Trafficking in Minors for Sexual Purposes

PANIAMOR Foundation in coordination with ECPAT International and UNICRI (the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute) and with the financial support of the Italian Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is executing in Costa Rica, the Action Programme against Trafficking in Minors for Sexual Purposes, in order to strengthen the protection of children victims of CST and trafficking for sexual purposes. Click here to learn more about the concept.

The general objective of the Programme is to use an integrated approach to strengthen the institutional response capacities - in particular those of law enforcement, the judicial system and NGOs - and to train experts to promote anti-trafficking activities .

The collection and analysis of data, training activities, public information campaigns and new forms of co-operation among institutional bodies and non-governmental organisations will be promoted.

The project will foresee the following activities:

• To design and implement a database program, within the Judicial System in Costa Rica, specifically in the eight Public Prosecutors Offices specialized in sexual crimes and domestic violence to collect relevant information about crimes related to commercial sexual exploitation of children and trafficking of children for sexual purposes, and to contribute to the efficiency of the judicial processes.
• To aid victim support personnel in the judicial processes through access of information related to children victims of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children for sexual purposes.
• To train immigration personnel (police and officials) and border police on norms, procedures and existing laws applicable to cases of sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.
• To launch an information campaign on television and radio directed to communities in Costa Rica, in order to promote the fight against sexual exploitation of children, sexual tourism and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

FAQ

The term commercial sexual exploitation of children (or CSEC) is used to describe the various activities that exploit children for their commercial value including child sex tourism, child prostitution, child pornography and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes. The term implies that the child is not only sexually abused but that there is a profit arising from the transaction – in cash or kind – where the child is considered to be a sexual and commercial object. CSEC is enshrined in Articles 34 and 35 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The International Labor Organisation estimates that about 1.2 million children are trafficked annually around the globe. Gender and age is closely correlated with the purpose of trafficking: boys tend to be trafficked for forced labour, petty crimes, and drug trade, girls are mainly forced into commercial sexual exploitation and domestic service (ILO/IPEC/SIMPOC, 2002: 25). ILO estimates that around 550,000 children are trafficked from Latin America and the Caribbean. In the same region the number of children involved in prostitution and pornography are 750,000 (ILO/IPEC/SIMPOC, 2002: 27). The most affected minors by CSEC are reported to be in the 15-17 age range.

About Sexual Tourism

The child sex tourism is the sexual exploitation of a child by a person or persons who engages in sexual activities with the child while travelling away from their own country or region. This usually involves some form of payment –either cash or items such as food, clothing or trinkets.

The problem

The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has been recognized as a global phenomenon that impacts millions of children each year in countries on every continent. CSEC is not new, but is growing extent of the issue is worldwide.

The problem of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents is a demonstrated and growing concern in Costa Rica, as well as in the rest of the Americas, societies where due to the levels of inequity, the fact of being a child or an adolescent entails in itself a risk factor, given the conditions of vulnerability and exposure under which they are placed by its hierarchical social system. Their socio-economic, gender, and age-group conditions increase their vulnerability to mistreatment and sexual abuse, including commercial sexual exploitation.

The protection of children and adolescents against commercial sexual exploitation is a difficult task; no single stakeholder, whether it is the government, a non governmental organization or an international agency, can face the problem on its own. Only through the participation and collaboration of many stakeholders and sectors is it possible to have a sustained and long-term impact. Commercial sexual exploitation is a complex and multidimensional issue. It can be approached from many different angles: repressive measures against the perpetrators; the approval and application of better legislation for the protection of minors; rehabilitation of those who have been victims of exploitation; and increasing the educational system’s capacity to contain children and adolescents in order to ensure their place in the schools instead of on the streets.

On this regard, public and private organizations from Central America have reiterated their active concern by including in their agendas, for discussion and action, the specific topic of the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, and one of the most perverse forms in which it is manifested: sex tourism. Here, the organized and sustained involvement of the tourism sector --both from the countries of origin and from countries of destination for sex tourism-- in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation in travel and tourism is an innovative line of action which has had great impact in Europe and Asia, and which is still to find a central place in the Central American Region’s agenda for action.

On this matter, a concrete initiative to promote the establishment of alliances between the tourism sector, the civil society and the governments –both at national and international levels-- is the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism.

The Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct is an initiative of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and ECPAT International developed by the countries of origin as well as the tourist destinations. It seeks the participation and promise of the tourist industry to disesteem and sanction the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents associated with travel and tourism.

In countries like the United States, Italy, Germany, Australia, Norway, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Brazil, The Dominican Republic and Thailand the tourist industry has taken an energetic position of zero tolerance in order to protect children and adolescents from commercial sexual exploitation. In this manner, they have united to promote the incorporation of the Code of Conduct in tourist companies to confront this problem.

In Costa Rica

As part of the promise of the tourist sector to contribute to the betterment of the quality of life in the population in general and the protection of the fundamental rights of childhood and adolescence in particular, in August 2003 the project of the Code of Conduct for the protection of children and adolescents from commercial sexual exploitation in travel and tourism in Costa Rica was started.

The code of conduct is a project of the tourist industry that is supported by the Paniamor Foundation in conjunction with the Costa Rican Association of Operators of Tourism (ACOT), the Costa Rican Association of Professionals in Tourism (ACOPROT) and World Vision Costa Rica funded by Fundecooperación.

The action as a member of the Code of Conduct

In order to participate in the project, businesses should take the following actions:

1. Sign the document The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children and Adolescents from Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Tourism. See document
2. Capacitate the personnel: the personnel should be clear about the directions and policies of the company or business concerning the protection of minors from commercial sexual exploitation and act as preventive agents in this problematic area.
3. Utilize visible symbols that will alert clients and suppliers about their position against the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents: posters, announcements, brochures, flyers, stickers, warnings for websites, letterheads, etc. See the campaign
4. Introduce a clause in contracts with providers of tourist services that declares the common repudiation of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
5. Present an annual informative report about the actions the company has realized for the protection of children and adolescents from commercial sexual exploitation. See document

Sustainable and Responsible Tourism

The Code of Conduct initiative is clearly framed in the worldwide preoccupation for advancing towards a sustainable and responsible tourism, which can contribute to improve the quality of life in the destination countries and to the preservation of their human resources and environment. Therefore, it is fully consistent with:

1. The recent declaration of the World Tourism Organization, issued in August of 2002 in Cape Town, South Africa, which recognizes the importance of having a Worldwide Code of Ethics for Tourism that promotes responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. And that further defines the guiding principles of this tourism, as: economic responsibility, environmental responsibility and social responsibility. The latter aspect contemplates, among other concerns, the fight against commercial sexual exploitation, particularly of children and adolescents.
2. The Ten Principles for the Sustainable Development of Tourism in the XXI Century, declared by the Rio + 10 Working Group , which state, under Principle 6. Human dignity – gender equity:

...”The commercial sexual exploitation of children is one of the worst forms of exploitation. According to careful estimates by UNICEF, one million children and youth enter the commercial sex trade globally every year. In many countries, the illegal business with children is flourishing. Criminal circles earn billions from child prostitution, child pornography and child slave trade. The tourist infrastructure is purposefully utilized for these crimes. Travelers who abuse children in tourism destinations take advantage of low-priced flights and holiday offers. The World Tourism Organization (WTO-OMT) itself calls upon the responsibility of the tourism industry explicitly stating that the sexual exploitation of children is a contradiction to the fundamental goals of tourism. It is important that the code of conduct for the protection of children from sexual exploitation in tourism be implemented world wide. This code of conduct was recently developed by the child rights organization End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for sexual Purposes (ECPAT) and signed by many travel and tourism companies. It is much more than a declaration. The commitment is connected with a monitoring of activities to protect children from exploitation. Only if the travel and tourism industry actively participates in the fight against the sexual exploitation of children and youths can the victims be comprehensively and effectively protected.”

Therefore, the Code is an instrument that enables the organized, sustained and verifiable participation of the tourism industry in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation that is so urgently needed in the destination countries of sex tourism.

The Campaign

The Code of Conduct process includes visible symbols that will alert clients and suppliers about their position against the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.

The campaign “We mean it” was launched in 2004.

Characteristics:

• It follows the Tourism Route
• It is in the English language
• It emphasizes protection up to 18 years of age
• It incorporates gender perspective
• It warns of the harmful and criminal nature of the activity
• It speaks on behalf of Costa Rica
• It takes up the slogan of the U.S. Campaign (CHILD SEX TOURISM: A GLOBAL PROBLEM)