GBTA Partners with ECPAT to Fight Child Exploitation

July 29, 2015

At GBTA Convention 2015 in Orlando, the GBTA Foundation announced July 27 it is joining the fight to stop child exploitation by working with ECPAT, the leading anti-trafficking policy organization fighting sex tourism.

“The GBTA Foundation and ECPAT stand shoulder-to-shoulder against the trafficking and exploitation of children,” said Daphne Bryant, GBTA Foundation executive director. “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.”

“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.”

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 which can be the site of abuse.

GBTA is encouraging 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.

GBTA is calling on its members to become more aware of the issues and put in place best practices to know the signs and continue to build their knowledge about the issue using the GBTA toolkit available at GBTA.org/ECPAT.

For more information, see www.gbta.org and www.ecpatusa.org/home.

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