By Jennifer Ruppelt | Project Assistant
As we gear up for the coming tourism season in Uruguay, we'd like to share the testimony of Valeria Santurión, Co-coordinator of the Uruguay against child sexual exploitation campaign.
“The campaign has been carried out for the past four years in five departments of Uruguay. The first stage is the invitation to form partnerships with different groups in each department where the campaign will take place. Then we invite youth from that department to participate in the campaign.
The next stage is the training, where we go to the department and carry out workshops with youth. We talk about human trafficking, responsible tourism, and healthy relationships among the youth. Then we carry out the public awareness phase in the department. The youth become aware of the problem and then are able to talk to adults.
The campaign has different materials for the public awareness phase. We use a city map as an excuse to interact with the tourists and tell them about the campaign. We also use a sticker to promote the 100 hotline, which is the same number in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, in case someone wants to report a case. We also use a passport which includes tips and recommendations on how to respect and treat children and adolescents well. We don’t want to scare the tourist, but rather see them as an ally and encourage them to report situations of sexual exploitation or violence.
We also seek reach the community and that they also commit to this campaign, in order to raise awareness throughout the department each time we do this campaign. We also reach out to businesses in the area and ask if we can leave our materials, especially at hotels so they can learn about the campaign and talk to tourists about it.
The most important thing for us is that the number of cases reported increases each time we go to department. That’s the campaign’s objective. Unfortunately, we know that there are cases out there and we try to raise awareness and create a protective network for children and adolescents.”
The campaign is currently in the planning stage for this year’s tourism season. We are excited to sign a new accord with the Ministry of Tourism and have their support for the next two years.
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