Hotel Staff Took Action – Indigenous Children are ‘Not for Sale’

We’re sharing three success stories of how travel and tourism businesses in Bolivia, with help from ECPAT Bolivia, have been working to protect children from sexual exploitation. This story is from a staff member working at a hotel located near a popular tourist attraction in the ‘Rurrenabaque’ region. A significant number of the indigenous Esse ejjas people, also known as ‘Chamas’ or ‘Chamitas,’ live in this region.

Atourist who had previously been to my hotel asked me where he could look for young girls. I told him that I didn’t know and saw him get into a taxi. Three days later, the same tourist entered my hotel with a ‘Chamita,’ the local name for an indigenous group of people in Bolivia, and I clearly heard him say to her that they will spend one hour in the room and then she can have his cell phone.

The girl was scared and didn’t understand what was happening.

At the reception desk they asked me for a key. The girl seemed scared and as if she didn’t understand what was happening. I told the tourist he couldn’t enter the hotel because the girl is not a registered guest. He got upset and told me that he would pay me more, if that was the problem. When I insisted they could not check-in, they left.

I’m sure they found another hotel that let them check-in. The next day the tourist left town, and the community found out that the girl got pregnant as a result of the sexual exploitation.

Guidance for Hotel Staff Needed

Unfortunately, the staff who shared this experience did not receive guidance or support from managers before the situation unfolded.

Even though he made a good decision to not let the tourist in, the hotel was unprepared on how to alert local authorities and child protection services to stop the man from exploiting the girl somewhere else. However, this highlighted the need for this hotel and other companies to enact proper child protection policies and procedures, so that exploitation can be prevented.

Indigenous Groups Face Greater Risk for Exploitation—Local Government is Working to Protect Them

Latin America has one of the most unequal income distributions in the world, and this is particularly felt by indigenous groups. In Bolivia, they face high levels of poverty—some have even been forced to move from their own land, leaving them homeless.

The city of Beni is close to Madidi National Park, a major tourist attraction in the ‘Rurrenabaque’ region. A significant number of the indigenous Esse ejjas people, also known as ‘Chamas’ or ‘Chamitas’, that were previously living in the national park moved into the city, but found no space to live.

Many Chamitas girls are pregnant or have several children despite only being teenagers.

The Way Forward

GOVERNMENTS:

• Promote safe and sustainable tourist destinations, free of violence and sexual exploitation of children, also when planning the restart of tourism after COVID-19;
• Develop action plans to protect the most vulnerable, especially for the native indigenous groups where community tourism predominates;
• Implement a long term strategy, such as a national code of conduct to engage the destinations and the private sector in preventing all forms of the sexual exploitation of children;
• Strengthen the capacity of local authorities, including law enforcement, to provide an immediate response to crimes and support to children.

THE PRIVATE SECTOR:

• All businesses with employees that travel for work must protect children, including through implementing the criteria of the national codes for the industry and/or the six criteria of The Code.

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READ HOW BOLIVIA’S HOTELS ARE STOPPING CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION