ECPAT-USA Releases “No Vacancy for Child Sex Traffickers Impact Report”

Brooklyn, NY (Sept. 26, 2017) – ECPAT-USA released a report today: “No Vacancy for Child Sex Traffickers Impact Report: The Efficacy of ECPAT-USA’s Work to Prevent and Disrupt the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Hotels.” The report details the results of ECPAT-USA’s work with the travel and tourism industry to protect children from sex trafficking.

The first of it’s kind, the report shows what percentage of hotels in the United States have anti-trafficking training for their associates. Based on the findings of an evaluation study conducted by the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, the report shows that half of all hotels in the U.S. have training about how to prevent and disrupt child sex trafficking and at least 35% of those have ECPAT-USA training, but there is still more work to be done.

“We are so proud of the progress that has been made with the hospitality industry but progress must continue,” said Michelle Guelbart, director of private sector engagement for ECPAT-USA and co-author of the report. “Hotels must mandate training across the board and ensure that this issue is institutionalized through new hire training.”

ECPAT-USA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to create a world where no child is bought, sold or used for sex. The International Labor Organization estimates that nearly 21 million people around the world are trapped in modern day slavery. Youth are strategically targeted and manipulated by pimps who use hotel rooms as venues to abuse children, believing that systems are not in place to protect the victims. With the use of online classified ads, child trafficking is both on the streets and behind the closed doors of local hotel rooms.

ECPAT-USA released the report, which was co-authored by ECPAT-USA’s private sector engagement associate, Julia Wejchert, at a panel event at the Salvation Army International Social Justice Commission. Carol Smolenski, ECPAT-USA’s executive director moderated the panel. Speakers included Michelle Guelbart, MSW, director of private sector engagement at ECPAT-USA and one of the report’s authors, Craig Kalkut, VP, government affairs at American Hotel and Lodging Association, Katrina Owens, survivor and founder of MPower Mentoring, and Faith Taylor, SVP, global corporate social responsibility at Wyndham Worldwide. The panel was co-sponsored by the NGO Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons, The Salvation Army, and the UN Presbyterian Office.

To read the report, visit www.ecpatusa.org/novacancy.