Houston City Council Highlights ECPAT-USA’s Anti-Trafficking Training In New Ordinance

Brooklyn, NY -- This month, the Houston City Council passed an ordinance, proposed by Mayor Sylvester Turner, that would require all hotels and motels in the city to train their associates on how to identify and respond to human trafficking. Houston has identified the training hosted on ECPAT-USA’s website, Your Role In Preventing Human Trafficking: Recognize the Signs, as the only one currently pre-approved to fulfill the requirements for hotel associates on both labor and sex trafficking. 

Your Role In Preventing Human Trafficking: Recognize the Signs is a 30-minute training offered in 17 languages, developed by ECPAT-USA and produced by Marriott International in collaboration with Polaris and with the support of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, an ECPAT-USA corporate Partner in Protection. Last month, it was announced that this training will now be available for free to all members of the hotel and travel industry on ECPAT-USA’s website. 

"The city of Houston's partnership with ECPAT-USA will ensure that hotel and motel employees receive compliant, no-cost training to identify trafficking.  The new ordinance requires employee training and certification along with the mandatory posting of a city-provided sign that includes phone numbers and other important information," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. "Houston is the nation's 4th largest and most diverse city, and the fact that ECPAT-USA's training also is available in 17 languages made them a critical partner for us."

“ECPAT-USA is pleased to have worked with survivors, anti-trafficking advocates, law enforcement and leaders in the hospitality industry to create a training that is informative, practical, and available for free to educate the broadest range of individuals possible,” said Lori L. Cohen, Executive Director of ECPAT-USA. “We applaud Mayor Turner and members of the City Council, and hope that this training will provide hotel associates with the tools they need to help protect children not only in Houston but across the country from exploitation.”

Hotels play a unique and pivotal role in the fight to end exploitation. Hotel workers can be the eyes and ears to suspected human trafficking, which makes it imperative that they have access to the tools and resources necessary to protect children, guests and themselves. Traffickers have long viewed hotels as a place where they can conduct illicit activities anonymously, enabling them to move victims without notice. However, through training, associates are given the information to help identify and respond to suspected instances of trafficking. With the right knowledge, a front desk attendant, housekeeper or security staff can all play a part in ending exploitation. 

The full training can be accessed here.

To learn more about ECPAT-USA’s partnerships with the hospitality industry, visit our site.