Coalition promotes Child Safe Tourism in Myanmar
According to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MoHT), since July 31:
“… surveying and holding awareness campaigns are being undertaken in Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, Inlay, Kawthaung and Chaung-Tha where tourism sector is developing. Actions on placing notice-boards like “Don’t allow Myanmar’s children not to enter bedrooms together with the tourists” and preventing not to occur child sex exploitation cases had been directed and undertaken at hotels and guest houses in Ngwe-Saung Beach …” [sic]
A survey and an awareness campaign that includes public notices, perhaps posters … Also workshops:
Child Safe Tourism training workshops
Last month (August 2017) MRTI conducted on-site training workshops on Child Safe Tourism in “tourism hot spots” including Mandalay, Chaung Thar, Kaw Thoung, Bagan, Yangon and Inle Lake.
The workshops were targeted at four different stakeholder groups:
Local Government
- To raise awareness and show decision makers that Child Safe Tourism is possible and desirable.
- To indicate that there are ways to report incidents and prove to local stakeholders that they can take responsibility.
Upper Management
- To convince senior decision makers of tourism companies to engage in Child Safe Tourism and commit personnel to trainings.
Mid Management
- To promote Child Safe Tourism within companies by raising awareness among middle management on the impacts of tourism on the safety and vulnerability of children.
- To raise awareness of the problems of orphanage tourism and child sex tourism.
- To adopt policies and create reporting procedures.
- To raise the importance of training all staff, especially guest services staff.
- To work with relevant stakeholders in the community to create Child Safe Tourism.
Floor Staff
- To build support for Child Safe Tourism among employees.
- To motivate staff to stay alert and know what to do if they have any suspicions.
Training the Child Safe Tourism trainers
In June MRTI held a 10-day program to train up 13 prospective trainers; “staff from the Anti-Trafficking Department (ATiPD), Department of Social Welfare (DSW), Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MoHT), Myanmar Tour Guides Association (MTGA), tour operators, and tourist police”.
The first half of the training focused on Child Safe Tourism with the balance focused on “curriculum planning, facilitation, orphanage tourism, child law and rights, case management systems, and work planning”.
About Child Safe Tourism
The Child Safe Tourism campaign was launched in November 2012 as part of the Project Childhood Prevention Pillar, an Australian Government initiative implemented by World Vision to prevent child sexual abuse within travel and tourism in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
In January 2015 World Vision handed Child Safe Tourism over to The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism (The Code), which is supported by UNICEF and UNWTO among others.
Whereas Child Safe Tourism originally sought to “arm travellers with information and knowledge on simple actions that they can take to reduce the vulnerability of children and young people who live or work in tourism locations”, The Code is “an industry-driven responsible tourism initiative” that works to prevent the sexual exploitation of children within travel & tourism (SECTT).
Sources: MoHT, MRTI, The Code, Child Safe Tourism.
Featured image: “Despite many daily hardships, the children always find something to smile about …” by Mathias Eick, EU/ECHO, Rakhine State, Myanmar/Burma, September 2013 (CC BY-ND 2.0) via Flickr.
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