Brazil Code of Conduct: Preventing the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Tourism

Tourist destinations in Brazil that seek to practice the activity with sustainability, quality and safety, must follow the precepts of responsible tourism, aiming to remedy or mitigate the negative effects and intensify the desirable effects generated by tourism in the destinations.

To this end, the prevention of the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in tourism activity is the duty of service providers and tourism professionals, since the Federal Constitution of 1988 provides that it is the duty of the family, society and the State to ensure the right to life to children, adolescents and young people – with absolute priority – the right to life. to health, food, education, leisure, professionalization, culture, dignity, respect, freedom and family and community life, in addition to safeguarding them from all forms of negligence, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty and oppression (Art. 277).

According to data from the International Labor Organization (ILO), every 5 minutes and 30 seconds a child is a victim of sexual exploitation in Brazil.

In order to strengthen the fight against Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, May 18 was established as a national day of combat and confrontation, in order to mobilize Brazilian society for the commitment to protect children and adolescents.

The tourism sector must do its part in preventing the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, acting to combat this crime, ensuring the safety of the local community in a tourist destination. One of the actions carried out was the launch of the Brazil Code of Conduct, in 2018, by the Ministry of Tourism, an instrument of free adhesion, which guides and establishes standards of ethical behavior of companies and tourism service providers, their employees and collaborators who work directly or indirectly in the sector.

For the development of tourism activity, it is necessary to have a wide range of direct and indirect service providers who can act in their daily professional lives with a conduct to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, but for this it is important that everyone understands what the Code of Conduct is.

It is a regulation that works with voluntary adherence, but which is fundamental for the maintenance of social well-being. In this scenario, each one knows what should be done and how to act ethically in the face of everyday professional situations. In this perspective, the Brazilian Code of Conduct covers a series of commitments that describe the behaviors that professionals in the tourism sector must exercise to confront and prevent the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in tourism.

Aiming to strengthen the Code of Conduct in the prevention of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, in 2022, the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Brasília (IFB) signed a partnership with the Ministry of Tourism. The project aimed to carry out actions to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in tourism, with the dissemination and awareness of the Brazilian Code of Conduct. To this end, workshops, events, thematic videos, Podcasts and a mini-training course for tourism service providers. These actions were divided into goals, such as the launch of the project, the holding of workshops, the updating of the Multipliers Manual, the creation of Podcasts and the offer of a course on the Moodle Instructional platform.

The Project also updated the Multipliers Manual, which was launched in December 2022, during the Falls Festival, in Foz do Iguaçu. The material is available in Electronic book in site of the Ministry of Tourism (https://www.gov.br/turismo/pt-br).

The manual is divided into two parts: in part I, it addresses sexual exploitation from the perspective of responsible tourism, aiming at the system of guaranteeing rights, channels and flow of complaints. In part II, the manual addresses the Brazilian Code of Conduct, the role of the multiplier and practical proposals for risk recognition and adoption of the Code.

In addition, the project has also launched two Podcasts with themes related to tourism, which are useful to assist professionals in the area in understanding the theme. It is worth checking out the content of these Podcasts For more information on this:

Podcast 01 (Sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in tourism)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mt6StHZMdocF3M2N8P00pMweg1T27KiZ/view

Podcast 02 (Identification, referral of suspected cases and adoption of the Brazilian Code of Conduct)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17FklG_34TbCcdqGR2w9SK3ZJSvPb8FO/view?usp=drivesdk

Finally, the project created a course to disseminate the Brazil Code of Conduct on the Moodle platform, which is available on the site of the Ministry of Tourism. The course is divided into three contents: 'The role of tourism in preventing the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents', 'Laws and approaches in preventing the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents', and 'Identification, adoption and referrals of the tourism sector to the Brazilian Code of Conduct.