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Putting Tourism to Rights

The right to turn on a tap and see water come out, the right to access coastal land and to a livelihood, the right to walk around your neighbourhood, the right to privacy - these are all human rights we take for granted. But what if these rights were taken away from us - and what if the reason was because of tourism?

This is the reality facing thousands of people every day. The tourism industry is so large and consuming that it frequently violates people's human rights, particularly in destination countries in the developing world.

Tourism Concern believes that human rights must be protected as a priority if tourism is to contribute meaningfully to eradicating poverty. Our Putting Tourism to Rights campaign is demanding an end to human rights abuses in tourism. We are calling on the UK Government and tourism industry to take steps to ensure that the rights of local people in tourism destinations are protected in line with international law.

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The problem

Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world. It has the potential to generate enormous benefits for destination countries. There is, on paper at least, an increasing recognition of the need for tourism to be developed sustainably. Tourism has also been highlighted as an important contributor to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in relation to poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability and gender equity.

However, a profound disconnect persists in the minds of governments, industry and international donor agencies when it comes to addressing the human rights impacts of the global tourism industry, one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world. Their primary focus remains on tourism’s potential to generate economic growth, which has meant unfettering the sector from rules and regulations that might hinder its rapid expansion.

This is particularly true where developing countries are concerned. Plagued by high unemployment and debt, but rich in cheap labour and unspoilt landscapes, many governments see tourism as the panacea to their economic woes. Yet while tourism may swell the national coffers, countless numbers of people – particularly those who are already vulnerable and poor – have their basic human rights violated as a direct result of tourism’s growth, exacerbating their poverty and trapping them in a cycle of deprivation.

Common human rights abuses include:

• Forced evictions from homes and lands to make way for tourism developments

• Environmental damage and loss of access to natural resources, such as grazing land, coastal areas and fresh water

• Exploitation of tribal peoples and their cultures as tourist attractions

• Poor pay and working conditions for tourism industry employees

Given this scenario, Tourism Concern believes it is vital that governments, including the UK Government, and industry players address the human rights impacts of tourism.

Time for change

Tourism Concern is calling on all major tourism stakeholders to take action to ensure that the human rights of individuals and communities in tourism destinations, and industry employees are respected and protected in line with international human rights law.

Key recommendations include:

The UK Government

• To identify a single government department to take on full responsibility for outbound tourism which explicitly recognises and seeks to address tourism’s impacts on development and human rights.

• That DFID (Department for International Development) takes on the membership of the UNWTO so that it can engage in and influence international debates around tourism, poverty alleviation, human rights and climate change.

• To hold UK businesses operating overseas to account through the implementation of corporate social responsibility regulations and reporting mechanisms; to ensure access to justice for victims of corporate abuse committed by UK businesses outside of the UK.

UK tour operators and tourism trade associations

• To respect and protect human rights as a primary responsibility by adopting policies that reflect the four core elements of human rights diligence set out by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises (read here)

• To take responsibility for and seek to mitigate human rights abuses that occur throughout their tourism supply chains.

• To make use of all existing codes of practice, environmental and social impact assessments and labour audits to ensure that the benefits to local communities are maximised and that the working conditions and human rights of employees are protected.

Hotels

• To make use of all available independent social and environmental impact assessments when contracting with developers; to ensure that there are no ongoing legal disputes over land ownership or access to key resources on any site where a hotel is to be built.

• To adopt a single, well understood code of practice that includes human rights and environmental protection measures.

The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)

• To open doors to stakeholder NGOs and to recognise the legitimacy of grass-roots perspectives; to take full cognisance of the concerns expressed therein.

• To ensure that member countries are in compliance with the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics; to utilise the mechanism set out in Article 10 in order to challenge practices which do not match its correct application and interpretation.

• To implement additional mechanisms to assist member countries in complying with the Global Code and to strengthen its potential to mitigate human rights abuses in tourism.

Destination governments

• To fulfil their international legal obligations to protect their citizens from human rights abuses perpetrated by third parties, including the tourism industry.

• To implement regulations and planning controls which ensure that the development of the tourism industry is sustainable.

• To ensure the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples in respect to prospective developments on their land and in their vicinity.

UK-based NGOs

• To consider taking tourism on to their agendas as a key determining factor in development in many of the countries in which they work.

• To identify whether tourism development has played a role in relation to land issues, natural resources depletion and other human rights abuses that their beneficiaries may face. To incorporate an awareness of tourism within their long-term development work.

To see the full recommendations, see our new report, Putting Tourism to Rights: A Challenge to Human Rights Abuses in the Tourism Industry

Putting Tourism to Rights exposes the many violations of human rights that occur as a direct result of tourism. Through an examination of case studies from all over the world, the report highlights how tourism regularly transgresses key articles of the UN Declaration on Human Rights and other important UN rights conventions. It challenges the UK Government and industry to recognise that human rights are a fundamental element of any sustainable approach to development – including tourism development, and calls for action to ensure their protection.

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