In the presence of the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, the arena Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have agreed to launch a brand new public awareness campaign calling on tourists to assist reduce demand for illicit goods and services associated with transnational organized crime.
Preparations for the campaign were set in motion in the course of the Spring Meeting of the executive Executive Board of the United Nations in Madrid. A Cooperation Agreement was signed between UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, and UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov inside the presence of United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.
The joint campaign, to be launched later this year, aims to elevate awareness among international tourists concerning the sorts of illicit goods and services to which they can be exposed during their travels and which directly or indirectly fund organized crime groups. Travellers can play a key role in reducing demand for these products through ethical consumer choices. The campaign will encourage tourists to make informed decisions and help reduce demand for trafficking in persons, cultural artefacts, wildlife, fauna and flora together with ivory products, in addition to counterfeit goods, and illicit drugs.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commended this innovative joint initiative between the 2 partner UN Agencies: “The illegal trade in goods and services often funds unscrupulous people fascinated with human trafficking, the illicit ivory trade and other areas that cause immense suffering and destruction. Well-informed tourists could make an actual difference in turning the tide against these criminal acts.”
Organized criminal networks generate money wherever there’s demand and travellers are usually exposed to things that are illicitly sold. With greater than 1 billion tourists now crossing international borders every year, there’s a growing opportunity to name on tourists to behave and decrease demand for these illicit products which in lots of cases are providing a funding source for organized crime. The campaign drives the message that while some products could seem harmless, the demand created and their sale can, in reality, have devastating effects at the lives of innocent people, on wildlife or on cultural property. The billions of bucks generated through such trade also fund criminal groups who use this money to branch out into other illicit and unethical lines of commercial.
“Although the infrastructure of tourism – from accommodation establishments to transportation networks – could be misused by traffickers to victimize the vulnerable, tourism has the capability and is firmly committed to reclaim this same infrastructure and use it within the fight against trafficking” said UNWTO’s Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. “Through coordinated efforts, we will be certain that awareness travels – that tourism authorities, travel companies and tourists join us in this fight” he added.
According to the manager Director of UNODC, Yury Fedotov: “This new awareness-raising campaign might help build awareness about organized crime and the devastating effect it has on people and communities worldwide. Tourists are usually exposed to the traffickers of humans and unethical products. By making informed choices, tourists may help sever the financial arteries that fuel these sorts of illicit trade”.
The campaign will seek to have interaction the tourism industry including hotel chains, travel agencies and airlines to lend support in raising awareness among tourists and help contribute to limiting these illicit markets.
The initiative supplements UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. The Code calls upon tourists to act in a responsible and respectful manner towards the visited destination, urging them to not commit any criminal acts and to refrain from all trafficking in illicit drugs, arms, antiques, protected species, products and substances which can be dangerous or prohibited by national regulations.