Trafficking

Tourism is not just a holiday, it changes the entire social, cultural and economic nature of the place where it thrives. There are social costs: abuse of women, children particularly those forced into sex work, trafficking and child labour because of tourism. Ministry of tourism announced Draft National Tourism Policy of India in May 2015 and given only 10 day for public comments.While it is the prerogative of the elected governments to form policy based on its promises as articulated in its manifestos and other documents, it is equally important to ensure that the process of policy formulation in the country is transparent and democratically decided. For tourism, the only directive giving document is the National Tourism Policy. Therefore, we believe that this document needs to be given the same consideration as the passing of any legislation and therefore brought to the Parliament for a discussion and a wider consensus. The government's attempt to scuttle this process by introducing it in the Cabinet is a manifestation of its autocratic nature which will affect millions of people whose homes have been turned into products to be traded in the tourism market.

The Kerala Tourism Policy 2011 (Draft) issued by the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala in November 2011 recognises the role of local self governing institutions in tourism development. The policy also visualises sustainable development through involving local panchayat and communities. Both these are welcome moves. What needs a perspective change is the excessive tourist focus without consideration of the impacts on local communities. The objectives of the policy seem to be primarily about the role and functions of the Department of Tourism and the formal sector of the tourism industry while the informal sector of the tourism industry that constitutes a significant part of the industry and economy has been ignored. EQUATIONS’ critique highlights the need for tourism impacts to be considered in policy formulation and implementation.

This is a compilation of dated case studies from India and around the world to show how child pornography and child abuse and tourism are interlinked. It illustrates how child pornography spreads, either through tourism or other forms of contact, like the Internet.

A particularly ugly and alarming face of tourism is the growing nexus between tourism, trafficking and child sexual exploitation. Poor tourism planning leads to displacement of communities and loss of traditional livelihoods. This pushes children into tourism-linked work like selling trinkets and services and working in small eateries. The gap between tourists and local communities and the celebration of consumerism that tourism is mostly about, defines these gaps more sharply. The increased demand for sex services by both domestic and foreign tourists and the cultural permissiveness that tourism brings in are other factors that contribute to the sexual exploitation of children. Child trafficking is one of the worst forms of human rights violations. This briefing sheet highlights this crime, states reasons for its occurrence and the attempts at combating it.