Human trafficking is the trade of humans for forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that at any given time, 40.3 million people are in modern slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labour and 15.4 million in forced marriage. Human trafficking is a clandestine trade that can exist in many industries however the hospitality sector proves to be attractive to traffickers who capitalize on the sector’s privacy and anonymity.
BCHA believes that the hotel industry, along with partners and stakeholders, can play an important role in working to reduce and ultimately eliminate human trafficking by training and educating their staff to be able to recognize the signs and potential red flags. Providing its members with resources and information is critical to ensuring that the industry continues to combat human trafficking at all levels within organizations.
The BCHA is working closely with the HAC in building an educational program and accessible resource guide to provide its members with educational tools for their staff to learn about early warning signs and establishing a working strategy for its members’ due diligence processes, risk identification and management, training, and awareness.
Provided below are a number of resources that can be referenced for additional information on human trafficking:
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