Business and Human RightsRoundtable Human Rights in Tourism

Petra Thomas(forum anders reisen/ Member of the board of Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism)

Utrecht, 11th January 2017

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism: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 arecampaigning for the respect of human rights in tourism.Participation is open to all actors who identify with the principles of theRoundtable and that commit themselves to human rights due diligence.

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism:Objectives

o Within the tourism industry initiating a process of recognizing humanrights responsibility according to the UN Guiding Principles onBusiness and Human Rights (2011) and promote human rights duediligence amongst tour operators;

o Developing criteria and concepts in order to implement human rightsresponsibility, communicating them to the tourism industry andrecommending them as guidelines;

o Implementing human rights standards into the business processes of touroperators by providing information and various materials, andadvancing 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 respecthuman rights in tourism.

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism:First steps

• October 2012: Initiave meeting (4 NGOs, 2 tour operators, 1certification organisation)

• February 2013: First conference, Berlin: Discussion of the commitmentand the management concept with key stakeholders in tourism sectorand political decisions makers

• Feb. – Oct. 2013: Dialogue with relevant stakeholders anddevelopment of the supporting materials (Commitment,implementation guideline and online training)

• October 2013: Second conference, Munich: Presentation of thematerials (new members: 5 tour operators and a tourism association)

• October 2015: Foundation of the Roundtable Human Rights in Tourismas a registered not-profit association

• New members 2016: national tourism associations of Germany andThe Netherlands; 27 members

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism: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

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism:Commitment

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism:Tools

Implementation Guideline: Online training:

Human Rights Management Framework

How to start as a tour operator implementinghuman rights in business culture:

Example of a&e erlebnis:reisen,Hamburg

• Member of forum anders reisen since2004, committed to the set of criteriawhich gave concrete guidelines forcreating sustainable tourism products

• CSR-Certification by TourCert since2010

• First step: Defining a missionstatement for the company whichincludes explicitly human rightsaspects and share it within the team

How to start as a tour operator implementinghuman rights in business culture:

Example of a&e erlebnis:reisen, Hamburg

• Second step: Talk about it!Developing a Code of Conductwith all partner agencies

• Communication about the human rightsand values to be signed and agreed by bothsides

• Third step: Focussing on special aspectsAs operator of roundtrips in small groups withthe focus an encounter with local peoplestarting with a deeper survey with all localguides in the main destinations as part ofquality management

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 rightsabuses in 4 different areas in Sri Lanka.

-working group in strong collaboration with guests ofthe RT like Society of Threatened People, NationalFishery Organisation NAFSO, local partners in SriLanka

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism:Working Groups

Working Group on Tourism in Sri Lanka (active)Some activities in 2016:-„Forum der Bereisten“ February 2016 in Passikudahby Studiosus Reisen München; first dialoguebetween hoteliers, hotel employees, professionaltraining and local NGOs

- local Roundtables in Colombo and Passikudahbringing the different stakeholders together tocommunicate the problems

- Letters to local authorities (e.g. tourism ministry) toencourage them to join the dialogue- Letter to UNWTO General Secretary Taleb Rifaifocussing on the problems of the local communities,e.g. fishermen

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism:Working Groups

- Discussion about how to avoid problems and torespect local needs in advance while conceptingthe products

- Not only ins Case of Sri Lanka in the post conflictsituation, but in general for different fragilecontexts, developing recommendations together

- new publication of “Tourism in fragile Contexts”Recommendations for product and communicationmanagers for the implementation of human rightsdue diligence (English, German)

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism:Working Groups: Sri Lanka

Other publications on special aspects will follow….

“Because every special situation will need a special solution which could bedeveloped together”

www.humanrights-in-tourism.net | info@humanrights-in-tourism.net

Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism: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