Edmund Rice Justice Bulletin

Edmund Rice International has agreed to be a signatory to a letter to major hotel chains in South Africa encouraging them to combat human trafficking and child sex tourism as the country readies for the World Cup.

In June, close to one million visitors will travel to South Africa for the World Cup. Past experience shows that this influx of people may also have the unintended consequence of creating opportunities for human trafficking. While not responsible for this tragic crime, the travel and lodging industry is well-positioned to help prevent human trafficking by taking steps to stop the use of hotels for these purposes.

The campaign, organized by Christian Brothers Investment Services (in this case Christian Brothers refers to the De la Salle Brothers) is to be sent to Best Western, Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood and other hotels, expressing concerns about human trafficking and encouraging the hotels to create ethical policies, train staff to help identify human trafficking, partner with social service agencies, and join an industry-wide code of conduct that guides anti-commercial sex tourism policy development.