Business and Human Rights Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism

Transcription

1 Business and Human Rights Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism Petra Thomas (forum anders reisen/ Member of the board of Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism) Utrecht, 11th January 2017

2 Background o Defining how the corporate responsibility for respecting human rights / due diligence looks like. o Demand for exchange and development of sector specific tools. o Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism since October 2012, as a competition-free platform for exchange and common activities. The Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism is a multi-stakeholder initiative. It provides incentives for enterprises, organizations and institutions that are campaigning for the respect of human rights in tourism. Participation is open to all actors who identify with the principles of the Roundtable and that commit themselves to human rights due diligence.

3 Objectives o Within the tourism industry initiating a process of recognizing human rights responsibility according to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) and promote human rights due diligence amongst tour operators; o Developing criteria and concepts in order to implement human rights responsibility, communicating them to the tourism industry and recommending them as guidelines; o Implementing human rights standards into the business processes of tour operators by providing information and various materials, and advancing access to good practice with knowledge transfer; o Raise awareness in the public and the media: bring travelers, businesses, investors, educators, students and responsible politicians to respect human rights in tourism.

4 First steps October 2012: Initiave meeting (4 NGOs, 2 tour operators, 1 certification organisation) February 2013: First conference, Berlin: Discussion of the commitment and the management concept with key stakeholders in tourism sector and political decisions makers Feb. Oct. 2013: Dialogue with relevant stakeholders and development of the supporting materials (Commitment, implementation guideline and online training) October 2013: Second conference, Munich: Presentation of the materials (new members: 5 tour operators and a tourism association) October 2015: Foundation of the Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism as a registered not-profit association New members 2016: national tourism associations of Germany and The Netherlands; 27 members

5 Strategic Goals Deepening experiences and exchange working groups pilot projects Internationalization partnerships and cooperation with other initiatives travel fairs and international conferences new members Increasing political dialogue National Action Plans for Business and Human Rights partnership with other initiatives, also on destination level Institutional stability and sustainability

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7 Commitment

8 Tools Implementation Guideline: Online training:

9 Human Rights Management Framework

10 How to start as a tour operator implementing human rights in business culture: Example of a&e erlebnis:reisen, Hamburg Member of forum anders reisen since 2004, committed to the set of criteria which gave concrete guidelines for creating sustainable tourism products CSR-Certification by TourCert since 2010 First step: Defining a mission statement for the company which includes explicitly human rights aspects and share it within the team

11 How to start as a tour operator implementing human rights in business culture: Example of a&e erlebnis:reisen, Hamburg Second step: Talk about it! Developing a Code of Conduct with all partner agencies Communication about the human rights and values to be signed and agreed by both sides Third step: Focussing on special aspects As operator of roundtrips in small groups with the focus an encounter with local people starting with a deeper survey with all local guides in the main destinations as part of quality management

12 Working Groups Benefitting together! Working Group on Tourism in Sri Lanka (active) Discussion starts about the findings from the study Clouds over Sunshine Paradise (Sri Lanka) The analysis shows some finding of human rights abuses in 4 different areas in Sri Lanka. -working group in strong collaboration with guests of the RT like Society of Threatened People, National Fishery Organisation NAFSO, local partners in Sri Lanka

13 Working Groups Working Group on Tourism in Sri Lanka (active) Some activities in 2016: - Forum der Bereisten February 2016 in Passikudah by Studiosus Reisen München; first dialogue between hoteliers, hotel employees, professional training and local NGOs - local Roundtables in Colombo and Passikudah bringing the different stakeholders together to communicate the problems - Letters to local authorities (e.g. tourism ministry) to encourage them to join the dialogue - Letter to UNWTO General Secretary Taleb Rifai focussing on the problems of the local communities, e.g. fishermen

14 Working Groups: Sri Lanka - Discussion about how to avoid problems and to respect local needs in advance while concepting the products - Not only ins Case of Sri Lanka in the post conflict situation, but in general for different fragile contexts, developing recommendations together - new publication of Tourism in fragile Contexts Recommendations for product and communication managers for the implementation of human rights due diligence (English, German) Other publications on special aspects will follow. Because every special situation will need a special solution which could be developed together

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16 Background o Human Rights are not a new issue in tourism o Risks to human rights violations in tourism occur in the context of local tourism development and during tourism operation. - land rights, right to water, right to food - working conditions - (sexual) exploitation of children - rights of vulnerable groups - right to participation o High number of risk-hours in tourism due to the international nature of tourism and the complex supply chain in tourism. o Increasing awareness of clients, investors and media o New attention on business and human rights