Leading Global Hospitality Chain to Help Combat Global Child Trafficking

New York City, NY -- (SBWire) -- 04/26/2011 -- Hilton Worldwide Inc., the leading global hospitality company, has become the latest hotel company to take a strong stand against the commercial sexual exploitation of children by signing the tourism Code of Conduct (The Code), ECPAT-USA announced today. The Code specifically focuses on the protection of children from sexual exploitation in the travel and tourism industries.

While The Code has been signed by almost 1,000 travel industry members worldwide, Hilton Worldwide is only the fourth U.S. company to agree to work with ECPAT-USA, a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies to protect sexually exploited children. Just last month, Delta Air Lines became the first U.S. air carrier and the third U.S. organization to sign.

As a subscriber to The Code, Hilton Worldwide will implement policies that condemn child trafficking and exploitation and provide training to help their employees identify and report illicit activities. Hilton Worldwide will also look for ways to raise awareness about ECPAT and the Code among customers and other stakeholders.

The purpose of The Code is to prevent and mitigate child sex trafficking, as well as encourage a responsible, child-wise tourism industry, according to Carol Smolenski, Executive Director of ECPAT-USA.

“Hilton Worldwide believes strongly in ECPAT-USA’s important mission to protect children from sexual exploitation and to bring greater attention to the issues surrounding child trafficking,” said Chris Nassetta, president & CEO, Hilton Worldwide. “As part of our commitment, we will work with government, non-governmental organizations and others in our industry to address this issue.”

“Some companies fear that associating with the tragic reality of child sex tourism will hurt their corporate brands or public images. The actions of Hilton Worldwide and Delta demonstrate that in fact taking a strong stand against child exploitation and trafficking is good for business,” said Smolenski.

Other U.S. organizations that have signed The Code include Carlson Companies, which owns the Radisson Hotels, and Global Exchange’s Reality Tours. Smolenski noted that Hilton Worldwide’s signing of The Code is an important milestone in ECPAT’s ongoing efforts to reach U.S. travel companies and create awareness of their need to provide leadership in tackling child trafficking.

About ECPAT-USA
ECPAT-USA, the U.S. arm of ECPAT International, is focused on protecting children trafficked into the U.S., American children trafficked for sexual exploitation, and foreign children exploited by American tourists traveling abroad. ECPAT International is a global network of organizations working together for the elimination of child trafficking, child prostitution and child pornography.

The network is comprised of 81 groups in 74 countries around the world. All ECPAT groups are independent grassroots organizations, working to combat child exploitation at the local level. For more information, visit http://www.ecpatusa.org or connect on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/causes/1413.