Only 19% of tourism trade respondents to a recent Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) survey have any corporate social responsibility initiatives in place to protect children from exploitation.

The issue of child sex tourism is so under publicised that the same survey garnered only 21 responses, despite repeated efforts to market it through trade media channels. Of the 21 survey respondents, as many as 33% said they were not aware of the different forms of child exploitation. Some 67% said they were aware of child Internet or other pornography and incest, while 62% were aware of sexual abuse of a child by a person known to a child. At least 57% of respondents said they were aware of trafficking or kidnapping of children to work in prostitution, and a further 48% said they knew commercial sexual exploitation of children was a form of child exploitation. The sale of child brides as another form of child exploitation was selected by 42%. Some respondents do have trusts in place to protect children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Also in place, say respondents, are personnel training, employment policies and customer information, as well as voluntourism programmes. Said one respondent: “I would strongly support any educational, training and reporting systems that can be put in place to stop this scourge. Our governments need to wake up to this real threat to our children.” As FTTSA launches its Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct, only 19% of the 21 respondents are even aware of the existence of such a code of conduct to address child sex tourism. FTTSA is rolling out the initiative in partnership with funding and advisory partners UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO), and in collaboration with South African tourism stakeholders. The Code, which started as a project of End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes International (ECPAT International), has been developed as a Corporate Social Responsibility tool for tourism businesses and is an industry-driven, multi-stakeholder initiative that seeks to mobilise the tourism industry to protect children at risk of exploitation and report offenders. The Code has been endorsed by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and many national governments. The Code is now being rolled out to the South African tourism and hospitality sector as a means of raising awareness about the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in tourism and the role of The Code as a prevention and reporting tool. Tourism businesses, including tour operators, hotels, travel agents, car hire companies, airlines, etcetera that choose to sign the Code commit themselves to implement in their operations the following measures:

1. Establish an ethical corporate policy regarding sexual exploitation of children.
2. Train the personnel in the country of origin and in destinations.
3. Introduce clauses in contracts with suppliers, stating a common repudiation of sexual exploitation of children.
4. Provide information to travellers (eg: by means of exploitation of children. catalogues, info cards, brochures, in-flight videos, ticket slips, home pages, etc) .
5. Provide information to local “key persons” at tourism destinations.
6. Report annually. During the 2010 Fifa World Cup, a national campaign to protect children will be conducted, including messages specifically targeting tourists. This national campaign is coordinated by UNICEF and other role-players, and aims to help prevent and report child sexual exploitation and other forms of child abuse during the mega-event.