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Take Action on Child Sex Trafficking in Wyndham Hotels July 1st, 2011
Thanks to Change.org for this Action Alert
From 2006 to 2011, Crips gang members in San Diego ran a child sex trafficking ring out of area hotels that destroyed the lives at least 16 girls.
An 18-month FBI investigation discovered that the gang was able to use two Wyndham-owned hotels (Travelodge and Howard Johnson) regularly for child prostitution with the knowledge and even assistance of staff.
After hearing about these cases, San Diego native Tim Rosner started a petition urging the Wyndham Hotel Group to sign an international child protection agreement for travel and tourism companies, which could have saved those 16 girls from sexual exploitation.
Staff at several Wyndham-owned motels have profited from sex trafficking, even though Wyndham has a child protection policy. The chain has failed at least 16 children — with more cases emerging.
Two major American hotel chains — Hilton Worldwide and Carlson Companies, an entity that includes Radisson Hotels and other chains — have already signed the international child protection policy, as have 945 other companies across 37 countries.
Click here to make sure Wyndham is next to sign the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children and call on the company to implement this stricter child protection policy in order to prevent future instances of child sex trafficking:
Thanks for taking action.
Faith-Based Investors Press Companies to Take Action on Human Trafficking June 30th, 2011
The Missionary Oblates joined members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) in an investor statement on Human Trafficking, an issue the group has been working on for many years.
The statement called on companies to develop human rights policies addressing the issues of human trafficking and modern day slavery and integrate these into corporate business plans. The group clearly articulated the business case for adopting such policies.
The statement also called for companies to report publicly on these measures and to work in collaboration with other stakeholders to eradicate these egregious human rights abuses.
Human Right to Water and Sanitation materials available from the UN June 30th, 2011
Popular information materials on the human right to water and sanitation are now available from the UN Water Decade website.
The materials were developed on the occasion of activities jointly organized by the UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC), UN-Habitat, the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC) and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) at Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum (20-22 June 2011). Click on the following links to access the documents:
Click here to read more »
Us State Department Trafficking in Persons Report of 2011 Released June 30th, 2011
The US State Department has issued their 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report. Although significant progress has been made in raising awareness and in freeing many who have been enslaved, there are still an estimated 27 million men, women, and children exploited by human trafficking schemes around the world.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton released the new report, which she explained ranks 184 countries, including the United States. The report does not mince words, and has been credited with significantly increasing the attention given to a long-standing problem.
Learn more about human trafficking on our website…
People’s Guide to the UN Human Right to Water and Sanitation June 21st, 2011
Photo by Living Water International
The Council of Canadians has released a new report titled Our Right to Water: A People’s Guide to Implementing the United Nations’ Recognition of the Right to Water and Sanitation. Chairperson Maude Barlow wrote the report, available from the Council of Canadians.
On July 28, 2010 the General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution recognizing the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. Two months later, the UN Human Rights Council recognized the human right to water and sanitation in a similar resolution, setting out exactly what this new right entails for governments. Because the Human Rights Council resolution is based on two existing treaties, it rendered binding the first right to water resolution passed by the General Assembly. In other words, as the UN acknowledges, “The right to water and sanitation is a human right, equal to all other human rights, which implies that it is justiciable and enforceable.”
“All governments are now bound by these historic UN resolutions. Whether or not they voted for the two resolutions, every member nation of the UN is now obligated to accept and recognize the human right to water and sanitation and come up with a plan of action based on the obligation to respect, the obligation to protect and the obligation to fulfil these new rights,” says Barlow.
