Hotel job training as a combat strategy in Mexico

On the third day she was found. She arrived at the Estaciones hotel in Mexico City on Saturday afternoon with a man, who left the room early Sunday morning. The May heat that spoils any organic matter she did what she could to draw attention to femicide committed against that young woman, but the hotel staff found out until Tuesday. This happened between May 7 and 10 of this year.

In the United States, a group of large hotel chains like Hilton, Intercontinental and Best Western began the convulsive 2020 with a historic demand in that country and many others. They were accused of profiting from the sex trafficking of at least 13 women, who were sold in their luxurious rooms in different states of that country.

Femicides, human trafficking, sex tourism and other crimes are committed in small motels, but also in opulent five-star hotels. Some workers are colluded, but there are those who are simply unaware of the warning signs that could save the lives of millions of adults or children who stay at their workplace.

In Mexico, the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) created the National Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children and Adolescents for the hotel and travel industry. It is a mechanism “to guide and engage” the tourism sector “in the prevention, detection and reporting of sexual exploitation”, according to the federal agency.

The code is voluntary and contains the criteria for companies and service providers to identify and apply key elements in their establishments to detect and prevent crimes related to human trafficking. And although it is aimed at saving minors, it can be applied in a general way.

With this mechanism, at least 80% of staff to receive specialized training. In this way, the hotel obtains a certification that distinguishes it as a safe place, which is valid for two years. “We have made the staff aware of detecting this type of people, when they are buying services, when they are trying to get people into hotels or when they are looking for those services,” explains Gustavo Bolio, coordinator of the Human Resources Committee of the National Association of Hotel Chains. (ANCH).

Until now, 70% of workers in hotels that belong to a hotel chain in the country have been certified in the prevention of child abuse, estimates.

Mexico: Origin, destination and transit of trafficking

The Mexican government did not investigate or prosecute any alleged child sex touristdoes not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking and the lack of follow-up to the code of conduct limited its effectiveness, indicates the Trafficking in Persons Report 2022 for our country, prepared by the United States government.

“Child sex tourism remains a problem and continues to expand, especially in tourist areas and northern border cities (…) Many child sex tourists come from the United States, Canada and Western Europe,” but there are also Mexican men, he adds. The report.

Mexico is the country from which most of the victims of trafficking located in Latin America and the United States, according to the Citizen Council of Mexico City.

Mexican law defines the crime of trafficking as any malicious action or omission to capture, engage, transport, transfer, retain, deliver, receive or house a person for exploitation purposes. The sanction it provides is five to 15 years in prison, plus a fine of 1,000 to 20,000 days.

According to the UN, Mexico is a country of origin, transit and destination for human trafficking. The 85% of victims They are girls and women and 15% are men and boys, according to the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).

In Mexican tourism, trafficking for the purpose of child sexual exploitation and labor exploitation are the most common, says the Sectur. The first occurs when “a criminal poses as a tourist, national or foreigner, travels to a certain destination and establishes sexual contact with minors, generally through traffickers and sometimes with the complicity of some service providers who they facilitate or promote it”.

The labor exploitation of girls, boys and adolescents happens when they are subjected to work “in dangerous, unsafe or unhealthy conditions, which violate their rights and dignity, hinder their education and endanger their physical and mental health and even their own lives”.

The five points of the code of conduct

The code of conduct to prevent sexual trafficking of minorsexplains Gustavo Bolio, has five axes:

1. Make a commitment in writing
2. Raise awareness and train staff
3. Establish a protocol of action
4. Form collaborative networks to prevent sexual exploitation
5. Submit reports on its operation.

The growth of the hotel industry cannot be based on human trafficking, he stresses. For example, he adds, one of the mechanisms that the participating hotels have implemented is computer locks so that guests do not browse sites that offer this type of service.

The staff training develops skills to suspect when a person could be forced to enter their facilities. “It could be that she enters hidden, covered or with an attitude that she is being threatened and cannot say anything. You notice it because she looks away from you, lowers her head, ”Bolio details. This training must be received by the entire workforce with reinforcement every six months, recommends the ANCH.

The courses also help them identify the taxi networks u tour operators who promote sex tourism to prevent them from accessing the hotel. “The same taxi offers you to go to a slum or gives you a catalog of prostituted or trafficked children.”

Hotels have a direct line to report a case to the authorities. The call is made on behalf of the hotel group to protect the integrity of staff.

In 2021, the Sectur collaborated with an organization to provide 19 virtual and face-to-face training sessions on this code of conduct, “reaching more than 10,000 employees of 148 hotels throughout the country”, indicates the report on trafficking in Mexico by the US government.

However, the challenge lies in implementing the code in small and medium-sized companies, in family hotels to raise awareness about this issue, says Bolio. “If we were to get a percentage of the total, then the hotel chains would represent 30% of the total available nationwide,” he points out.

In Mexico City, the capital’s government and the hotel and motel sector also created a training and certification program, through which companies receive the Secure Hotel seal. The instruction is for staff to detect possible cases of trafficking, femicide and sexual violence and about their obligation to notify the authorities.