CNS photo/David Gray, Reuters

local schoolchildren practice soccer on a dirt ground located under power lines in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, South Africa, May 25. The 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup kicks off June 11.

Hotels urged to keep eye on human trafficking during World Cup

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- During June's World Cup in South Africa, hotels are being asked to watch for signs of human trafficking, especially child trafficking.

Christian Brothers Investment Service has contacted eight international hotel chains asking them to take steps to be on guard against human trafficking and children being forced into prostitution.

"The travel and lodging industry is well-positioned to help prevent human trafficking by collaborating and taking steps to stop the use of your hotels for these purposes," said a letter to hotel chains by Frank Coleman, executive vice president of Christian Brothers Investment Services.

Steps that hotels can take to blunt sex trafficking, Coleman said, include creating an ethical policy against commercial sexual exploitation of children, training hotel staff to help identify human trafficking, creating educational materials for guests, joining with government and social service agencies to stop the trade, and to report progress publicly.

The letter was co-signed by 300 leaders of religious orders and institutes whose funds are managed by Christian Brothers Investment Services.

To date, though, the only two hotel companies that had signed on were the two mentioned by Coleman in his letter: Accor, which runs the Motel 6, Sofitel and Novotel chains, and Carlson, which owns the Radisson, Park Inn, and Country Inn & Suites brands along with the TGI Friday's restaurant chain.

One problem in getting major hotel chains to sign on is that not all of them are publicly traded, according to Julie Tanner, assistant director of socially responsible investing for Christian Brothers Investment Services. Hilton Hotels is privately held, as is Best Western, and neither had responded; Hyatt went public only last year, Tanner said, and had not issued a response.

Christian Brothers Investment Services owns stock in Accor and Carlson, as well as Starwood. Starwood had not responded as of May 25.

Besides Accor and Carlson, Tanner said the only other chain to issue a response to the letter was Intercontinental, a United Kingdom chain, which she termed "a nonresponse response ... only three sentences." The chain merely said it has a human rights policy and didn't even address the issue of human trafficking, she said.

"We stay in these hotels," Tanner told Catholic News Service, noting that the religious orders represented by the letter's 300 signatories account for much business travel. "We want to be perceived as good corporate citizens."

The lack of response from hotels, she added, was "amazing since there are 1,000 organizations that have signed the code" pledging to take steps to prevent human trafficking.

Tanner said Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, an independent nonprofit organization that promotes equitable and sustainable tourism development in South Africa, has been working with the United Nations, the U.N. International Labor Organization, and public relations powerhouse Saatchi & Saatchi to alert World Cup tourists to the consequences of trafficking.

Using advertisements and brochures to be placed in hotels, the materials warn guests against buying or selling children for sex, or grooming children as sexual objects or commodities. "They are really highlighting the prosecution" aspect of trafficking, Tanner said.

Christian Brothers Investment Services has even drafted letters that World Cup tourists can take to their hotel to prod the management to act.

"As a guest at your hotel, I wanted to share information and learn what you and your parent company are doing to protect human rights and educate your staff," the letter says -- noting that the United Nations estimates that about 12 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking -- and recommending steps the hotel can take to deter trafficking.

"By taking these steps immediately, your hotel can signal your commitment to human rights at the World Cup," the guest letter says. "At the same time, I can feel comfortable I am giving my business to a responsible member of our local and global community."

A domestic version of the letter is also available at Christian Brothers Investment Services' website, www.cbisonline.com, which notes: "As the marketplace increasingly demonstrates, companies must be aware of and sensitive to social and ethical issues. As a customer, the moral and ethical standards a hotel embraces as evidenced by its policies and practices are very important to me."