2nd Symposium of the ‘Human Rights in Tourism’ Roundtable

The “Human Rights in Tourism” Roundtable was launched in autumn 2012 as a multi-stakeholder initiative by nine stakeholders from civil society, business and politics. It sees itself as an open platform for promoting human rights in tourism and acts as a catalyst for companies, organisations and institutions committed to upholding human rights in tourism.

The Roundtable has set itself the objective

• to initiate a process of human rights accountability in tourism in accordance with the ‘UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ (Ruggie 2011) and to encourage tourism companies to comply with human rights due diligence,
• to promote the implementation of human rights standards in travel companies’ business processes by providing information, various resources and know-how through access to best practice,
• to raise awareness amongst the public, the media, travellers, businesses, investors, teaching staff and students, as well as policy-makers, regarding the observance of human rights in tourism.

At the Roundtable’s second symposium in early October, seven German and Swiss tour operators, together with a travel association, jointly affirmed their commitment to human rights for the first time. By signing a ‘Commitment to Human Rights in Tourism’, the companies have agreed to develop a human rights strategy and to integrate it consistently into their business processes and into their collaboration with business partners and suppliers.

In addition, the management guide developed last year and an online training module for the implementation of human rights standards in travel companies were presented and discussed at the conference.

As a management framework for human rights responsibility in accordance with the ‘UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’, the guide offers support in developing a human rights strategy that can be integrated into the existing management structures of tourism companies and tailored to the size and nature of their operations. The online training course supports in-house training initiatives on human rights and raises awareness of human rights issues within the company’s operations.

Both documents, along with further information, are available on the Roundtable’s website at www.menschenrechte-im-tourismus.net.