Bedsonline has announced its support for the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) World Day Against Child Labor on June 12th.
During the one-day campaign, Bedsonline will donate 1 euro for each booking made through its platform to A21 – a nonprofit organization that aims to abolish slavery everywhere – to support its Thailand Child Advocacy Center.
The campaign, which will be launched globally in Bedsonline’s main markets in APAC, EMEA and the Americas, aims to support the more than 168 million children that the US Labor Department estimates are in forced labor worldwide.
This initiative by Bedsonline is aligned to the company’s commitment to protect against the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in the travel & tourism industry and forms part of the Group’s Child Protection Policy. As part of this commitment, the company is already implementing best-practice actions and has conducted training for staff worldwide.
Alistair Rodger, Director of Retail Travel Agents at Hotelbeds Group, commented: “We are very proud to join the World Day Against Child Labor as part of our commitment to stop the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
“We encourage all the travel agents out there that use our platform to make as many bookings as possible on Tuesday 12 June using just our Bedsonline platform only – for every single booking, be it a hotel or a transfer or activity, we’ll give 1 euro to A21 to help them stop the hideous practice of the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
“We recognize that the tourism industry has the legal and moral obligation to ensure that the protection of children and adolescents is included in its development agenda. That is why we wanted to launch a global campaign to both raise money and raise awareness with travel agents about this global problem.
“We chose to focus the funds raised on Thailand for two main reasons. On the one hand, A21’s Thailand Child Advocacy Center is 100% dedicated to children in the region; on the other hand, Thailand is our 4th most booked destination globally and therefore our commitment to the country is strong.”
Kayla Henry, A21 Global Supporter Engagement Manager said: “We are grateful for Bedsonline having chosen to support the fight against human trafficking on this significant day. There are more slaves on the earth today than ever before and millions of children are being affected by human trafficking every day. We believe that it is not up to any specific group to combat slavery, but that when we all come together and play our part, we can see change take place – and it is fantastic to see companies such as Bedsonline rising up to that challenge, making a direct contribution that will help protect children in Thailand.”
A21, also known as A21 Campaign, is an Australia-based non-profit organization founded in 2008 that works to fight human trafficking, including sexual exploitation & trafficking, forced slave labor, bonded labor, involuntary domestic servitude, and child soldiery. In Thailand A21 has supported over 30 survivors, 65% of whom were under 17 years old.
