Code seeks to protect children from sex tourism
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-22 09:40

U.S.-based travel giant Carlson Companies Inc. on Wednesday became the first North American travel firm to sign a code of conduct aimed at protecting children from sex tourism.

The code was launched in North America by UNICEF, the World Tourism Organization and the children's rights advocacy group, ECPAT, at a news conference at UNICEF's New York headquarters.

Chairman Marilyn Carlson signed the code for the privately held Minneapolis-based travel company, which owns the Radisson and Regent hotel chains and Carlson Leisure Travel Services.

"The travel industry is critical in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation. We can no longer look the other way while members of our own communities are abusing children in the most unthinkable ways," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told a news conference.

More than 50 travel firms in Europe already enforce the code, UNICEF said.

As many as 2 million children are sexually exploited in the multibillion-dollar commercial sex trade, the U.N. agency said. Most of the victims are girls but a significant number are boys.

Sex with children is a lure to tourists around the world, with Acapulco, Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Bali and Cambodia among the major centers.

Rights groups estimate the number of child prostitutes in Brazil at between 100,000 and 500,000, out of a total population of 175 million. Some 200,000 children work in Thailand's sex industry, according to a U.N. estimate.

By signing the code, travel firms commit themselves to establishing a corporate policy against the commercial sexual exploitation of children, training their staff to uphold the policy and providing travelers with information on the sexual exploitation of children.

A U.S. law enacted last year made it a crime for any person to enter the United States, or for any citizen to travel abroad, for sex tourism involving children. Sex tour operators and patrons face up to 30 years in prison for violations.

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