Maintain awareness of child sex problem: WTO

THE battle against the sexual exploitation of children must continue despite "short-term preoccupations" like terrorism concerns. So says World Trade Organisation (WTO) secretary general, Francesco Frangialli, who was speaking at the European Conference on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism. "In-depth actions such as the international campaign, initiated in 1997, should not be sacrificed to short-term preoccupations," he said commenting on the recovery of the tourism sector. "Tourism has always shown its resilience in the past and we expect that it will soon be back on track," he said, referring to WTO's first attempt in 1993 to address the issue of sexual exploitation of children in tourism (SECT). According to Frangialli, governments and the tourism industry had initially been reluctant to acknowledge that there were any problems within their respective countries or establishments. Since then a great deal of progress has reportedly been made. The first of four regional conferences on child sexual exploitation was held in Rome from April 3-4, during which more than 100 delegates discussed common government policies and strategies, legislation and law enforcement and training for tourism professionals. (Natalia Thomson)