Business travelers who witness signs of child exploitation and sex trafficking are in an ideal position to stop it. For that reason, the GBTA Foundation -- the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) -- has formed a new partnership with anti-trafficking group ECPAT to collaborate on initiatives mobilizing business travelers against child trafficking, it announced this week.
"The GBTA Foundation and ECPAT stand shoulder-to-shoulder against the trafficking and exploitation of children," said GBTA Foundation Executive Director Daphne Bryant. "In making this commitment, the GBTA Foundation will work with ECPAT to educate the travel industry about the warning signs of sex tourism and child exploitation. Working together, our industry can make a significant impact in ending child exploitation."
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, approximately 100,000 children have been sexually abused and exploited in the United States in the past year, and millions more are exploited around the world. Travel infrastructure is sometimes used in trafficking and exploitation, through commercial airlines and buses used to transport children, online classifieds used to lure travelers, and hotel rooms used as sites of abuse.
As part of its new partnership with ECPAT, GBTA will encourage the business travel industry to adopt and implement ECPAT's Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct, the only voluntary, industry-driven set of guidelines that focuses on the elimination of child exploitation and trafficking.
"I welcome GBTA's commitment to fully support ECPAT's mission to help children all over the world," said Michelle Guelbart, director of private sector engagement for ECPAT. "With the business travel industry's support, we can make a difference."
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