Charity 'snubbed'
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Charity 'snubbed' by BA Date 4/12/03
By Charles Starmer-Smith 29 November 2003
A human rights charity which criticised British Airways for failing to support its campaign against child tourism has been nominated for the airline's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.
Ecpat (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking), which, was angered by BA's refusal to show its in-flight video, has been rewarded for its work in preventing child tourism in the category of "large-scale tourism".
Helen Veitch, co-ordinator for Ecpat UK, said: "We are pleased to be nominated, but it is ironic that a company should give an award for an issue on which it takes little action. If this abuse is to be tackled, it is vital that airlines inform their passengers about it."
Ecpat wants to see "in-flight educational messages" tourism on all long-haul flights. BA's explanation for not displaying these is that it already has an agreement with Unicef to show its charity video.
"We have been closely associated with Unicef for 10 years, and it works closely with Ecpat on this issue," said a BA spokeswoman.
Other airlines such as Air France, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic already show the videos, which are seen by the British police as an important tool in crime prevention.
"Greater collaboration is needed between law enforcement, non-government organisations, airlines and the travel industry," said a police spokesman.
Ecpat's work has been focused on establishing its code of conduct for the protection of children from sexual exploitation. The code is being implemented by 45 companies and 42 operators from 13 countries.
BA Holidays, the airline's tour operator, has committed itself to signing up to the code by the end of the year. Signatories are required to educate representatives abroad about child sex tourism, raise public awareness and pass on information to the authorities.
BA maintains that, along with Unicef, it already works with other agencies and local police forces over the issue. According to Ms Veitch, however, the airline has taken little concrete action.
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