For the past several years, the team at Maritz Global Events has been working to raise awareness about human trafficking through educating our team, partners and industry.
As an industry, we can better understand our role and come together to help this cause. As an industry leader, Maritz Global Events’ team members are in many locations around the world and have the opportunity to watch out for signs of human trafficking, so we are committed to doing our part. We have partnered with ECPAT-USA to assist in this fight and are signatories of The Code.
What is The Code?
The Code exists in order to inform travelers that child sex exploitation is never okay, no matter what country they visit and includes the following goals:
- To establish a policy and procedures against sexual exploitation of children.
- To train employees in children’s rights, the prevention of sexual exploitation and how to report suspected cases.
- To include a clause in contracts throughout the value chain stating a common repudiation and zero tolerance policy of sexual exploitation of children.
- To provide information to travelers on children’s rights, the prevention of sexual exploitation of children and how to report suspected cases.
- To support, collaborate and engage stakeholders in the prevention of sexual exploitation of children.
- To report annually on their implementation of Code related activities.
As an individual, feel empowered that you can make a difference in this fight. One easy way? Download the TraffickCam App.
The app was developed in 2015 by the Exchange Initiative, a group created by Nix Conference & Meeting Management, to empower individuals and organizations with real resources to combat commercial sexual exploitation of children. The purpose of the app is to create a database of hotel room images that an investigator can efficiently search and cross reference with pictures that traffickers regularly post of their victims in hotel rooms. This helps investigators determine where the victim is located. Photos of more than 250,000 hotels in every major metropolitan area of the U.S have been uploaded and more than 152,000 TraffickCam apps have been downloaded.
To help spread awareness, Maritz Global Events presented the app at one of our all-company town halls along with the creators of the app from Washington University, the President of Nix and Associates, Molly Hackett, local law enforcement, Congresswoman Ann Wagner and local media.
“We can all make a difference by keeping our eyes and ears open when traveling, at events and in all aspects of our lives,” says Liz Brodie, Maritz Global Events Meeting Event Manager and Chair of our Human Trafficking Awareness Committee.
A person who has been trafficked may:
- Show signs that their movement is controlled.
- Have few or no personal possessions.
- Have false identity or travel documents.
- Have someone speak for them, or a third party insists on being present and translating.
- Not know their home or work address.
- Be unaware of their whereabouts, have lost a sense of time.
- Have numerous inconsistencies in their story.
- Have limited or no social interaction.
We ask you to join us in the fight to end human trafficking. Our network of attendees, travel agencies, suppliers and employees are in unique positions to be the eyes and ears. Together, we can make an impact!
