Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual ...

The Agenda for Action recommends the following ways of combating the commercial sexual
exploitation of children:
♦ Co-operation between countries and various sectors of society
♦ Mobilising the tourist industry and the business world so that their facilities and
networks are not used for child sex trade
♦ Criminalising the commercial sexual exploitation of children
♦ Actions to ensure that laws, plans and programmes against child sex trade are
established and carried out
♦ Establishing special units within the police
♦ Recovery and rehabilitation of children
♦ Preventive measures in the form of education and information
(Declaration and Agenda for Action adopted during the World Congress against the
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Stockholm, August 1996)
The tourism industry is represented in most of the world’s cities and covers a wide and
important network. The tourism industry provides visitors and, hence, potential child sextourists
with access to its infrastructure: transport, accommodation and services.
Even though the largest portion of the child sex trade caters to local clients, the
incidence of tourists from industrialized countries travelling to developing countries
to purchase sexual services of local children and women is a very visible part of the
problem of child-sexual exploitation.
Professionals working within the tourism industry have unique possibilities to
observe, increase awareness of and report on the commercial sexual exploitation of
children.
4. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Since 1989, 191 of the world’s countries have adopted the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child. This Convention contains 54 articles, all of which are directed towards
protecting children. The welfare of children is fundamental to this Convention. ”In all
measures concerning children, the welfare of children shall be a primary concern” (Article 3,
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.) Several of the articles specify various
ways to protect children against commercial sexual exploitation. This is particularly true of
Article 34, as well as of Articles 35, 36 and 37. All United Nations Conventions are legally
binding, which means that those countries that have ratified any UN Convention have
agreed to adhere to the provisions of the Convention.
The complete text of Article 34 of the UNCRC reads:
”State parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual
abuse. For these purposes state parties shall in particular take all appropriate, national,
bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent;
(a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
(b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
(c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.”
5. The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO/OMT)
UNWTO is the leading international organization in the field of tourism. It
has 141 member States as well as 304 Affiliate Members representing the
operational sector. With its headquarters in Madrid, UNWTO is an
intergovernmental agency entrusted by the UN with the promotion and
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