Trafficking and Hotel Chains

You may recall our efforts to encourage hotel chains to take action against human trafficking during the recent soccer World Cup in South Africa. Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS) took a real leadership role in these efforts. Here is a follow up from CBIS with some important information about hotel chains that may still require further education and encouragement:

In April, 2010, 300 clients of Christian Brothers Investment Services, faith-based organizations, and socially responsible investors, including members of theInterfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), sent a letter to eight major hotels with chains in South Africa to learn about actions being taken to combat human trafficking and child sexual exploitation in advance of The World Cup. While not responsible for these crimes, hotels can help to stop the use of their facilities for these purposes. We asked the hotels if they were training staff to be observant to signs of human trafficking, working with local authorities to protect victims, encouraging employees to report incidents to hotel management, and publicly reporting to stakeholders on progress.

Thanks to your support, we now have information from all the hotels we contacted. To read CBIS’ full report, go to http://www.cbisonline.com/page.asp?id=1047for a review of hotel responses, policies and programs to address child sexual exploitation. The report’s major findings include:

- Only three of the hotels surveyed have a human rights policy that specifically addresses child protections – Starwood (brands include Westin and Sheraton), Accor (brands include Mercure, Motel6, Formule1, Novotel), and Carlson (brands include Radisson, Country Inns & Suites).

- We were pleased that Hyatt, Accor, Carlson and NH Hoteles took action to address human trafficking and combat child sexual exploitation in South Africa.

- Accor (http://www.accor.com) and Carlson ((http://www.carlson.com) have the most robust and substantive programs and policies to address child sexual exploitation. When evaluating your travel or conference needs, you may want to consider these hotel chains and let them know that you considered their policies on this issue when deciding on a hotel.

- We applaud NH Hoteles, Accor, and Carlson for endorsing the tourism code of conduct against child sex tourism known as The Code (www.thecode.org), to protect children’s rights.

- Best Western, Hyatt, and Hilton do not appear to have programs or policies to combat child sexual exploitation.

A chart summarizing the results and additional analysis is available in our full report online.

Remember, when you stay at a hotel, be sure to give a letter to the front desk to share your concerns about human trafficking. To download the letter, visithttp://www.cbisonline.com/page.asp?id=1017. Please let us know if you have used the letter and if you have taken other steps to encourage hotels to combat human trafficking.

CBIS and members of ICCR will continue to engage hotels about their policies and practices to stop sexual exploitation of children around the globe. We view the commitment of hotel chains to train, report, partner with local authorities, and craft policies as important elements to combat human trafficking and demonstrate corporate responsibility.

Be sure to check CBIS’ SRI Action Center at www.cbisonline.com in the coming months for more ways to become involved and share your concerns. Thank you for your interest in and assistance with improving the social and environmental performance of corporations.