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means of fostering international peace and understanding, economic development andinternational trade. Encompassed in its mandate, the UNWTO aids developing countrieswith fundamental tasks pertaining to tourism by creating development projects. TheUNWTO acts as a liaison between authorities and organizations, it collects internationalstatitics on tourism arrivals and receipts, develops tourism education programmes, carriesout studies and research on market competitiveness and sustainable tourism development,organizes conferences, seminars and workshops, and its resource centre is a reliable sourceof information with its publications. As well, the UNWTO provides the industry workerswith education, training and knowledge about tourism and related issues. In October 1999,the UNWTO General Assembly adopted a new Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. 257 Article2, paragraph 3 of the documents outlines:The exploitation of human beings in any form, particularly sexual, especiallywhen applied to children, conflicts with the fundamental aims of tourism andis the negation of tourism, as such….it should be energetically combated….andpenalised without concession by the national legislation of both the countriesvisited and the countries of the perpetrators. 258Governments representing the countries that support the Global Code of Ethics haveagreed to pass stricter laws and controls over the private sector to ensure that childrenwithin their borders are protected from harm that can occur as a result of abetting orignoring violations. Private members of the UNWTO who back the initiative have agreedto meet the demands of the Code imposed on them and their particular industries. In2004 and 2005, the Secretariat of the UNWTO carried out an extensive survey among itsmembership in order to assess the degree of implementation of the Global Code of Ethics.By July of 2005, 94 member states responded to the survey. Overall, 68 countries, 72%of the respondents, had indicated that they had either incorporated the principles of theCode into their legislative texts or have used them as a basis when establishing nationallaws and regulations. However, the responses did not include any information regardingwhich provisions had been used or which legal instruments had included the principles ofthe Code. 259 A new Global Survey on the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics waslaunched by the UNWTO in September 2008, whose findings are not yet available.In cooperation with ECPAT International, and inter-governmental organizations suchas UNICEF, Interpol, UNESCO and the ILO, the UNWTO has also launched anInternational task Force for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation inTourism, an action platform initiated in 1997 after the First World Congress. The aims ofthe Task Force are to prevent, uncover, isolate and eradicate the exploitation of children insex tourism. The Task Force holds two annual consultative meetings with governments, the66|Private Sector Accountability in Combating the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children