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Hilton Hotel has been a big name in the hotel industry for years. It is to my great surprise that this establishment was found to be running an underground brothel in one of it’s China locations. More can be read about this story here. Sadly this isn’t the first Hilton location with such issues. A brothel was discovered in an Ireland Hilton, and the Washington D.C. Hilton has strong ties to prostitution. But the issue of child prostitution can be taken on by the hotel chain by signing the ECPAT Code of Conduct. By signing this act hotels agree to follow six simple steps to fight child prostitution:
THE SIX CRITERIA
Suppliers of tourism services adopting the code commit themselves to implement the following six criteria:
1. To establish an ethical policy regarding commercial sexual exploitation of children.
2. To train the personnel in the country of origin and travel destinations.
3. To introduce a clause in contracts with suppliers, stating a common repudiation of commercial sexual exploitation of children.
4. To provide information to travellers by means of catalogues, brochures, in-flight films, ticket-slips, home pages, etc.
5. To provide information to local "key persons" at the destinations.
6. To report annually
To get involved, please sign a petition to urge Hilton to sign the ECPAT Code of Conduct. Click here to sign the petition. Together we can end sex tourism and protect children. This is also a reminder that we have our greatest power as consumers. So next time you make a purchase for anything, from a hotel room to a house ware, check out the companies you are supporting. Our money should go to corporations that are part of the solution, not the problem.
Please enjoy this great song and video by Mr. J. Medeiros on the realities of sex trafficking: