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Combatting human trafficking in the hospitality sector: a call to action

Guest blog by Dr. Halleh Seddighzadeh

We are honoured to announce the launch of a new blog series dedicated to combating human trafficking in the hospitality sector, this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

The series has been developed in collaboration with Dr. Halleh Seddighzadeh – a renowned international counter-trafficking expert who has extensive experience in advising and building hospitality-based anti-trafficking programmes and who gave the keynote speech at our 2023 Autumn Summit. This series will cover a range of important topics, providing valuable insights and fostering discussions to drive meaningful change.      

Human trafficking is defined as the business of exploiting, profiting, and preying on individuals by using manipulation, force, fraud, or coercion to perform sexual acts or labour. It is a transnational crime that impacts nearly every country in the world. According to the United Nations, almost every country is affected, either as a source, transit, or destination for trafficking victims.

Human traffickers systematically infiltrate and target various business sectors, such as travel and tourism. These industries provide opportunities that traffickers might exploit to recruit and victimise individuals covertly. Hotels, whether inadvertently or through the involvement of complicit individuals, could potentially be leveraged as strategic sites for these illicit activities. Unfortunately, there are documented cases within the hospitality sector where this has occurred, leading to litigation. This highlights the critical need for heightened vigilance and proactive measures within the industry to prevent such exploitation. Trafficking networks are frequently linked with broader criminal enterprises, including arms trafficking, narcotics distribution, terrorism, and money laundering.

This shadow economy, thrives on the exploitation of human beings, making it challenging to fully quantify and combat. Due to the clandestine nature of these operations, many cases likely go undetected, and the true scale of trafficking remains uncertain and is likely more complex than we realise. Victims maybe concealed in plain sight, complicating efforts to identify and assist them. However, the hospitality industry has a unique position to leverage its frontline role and significantly enhance efforts to combat trafficking through vigilant observation, reporting and robust and tailored anti-trafficking programming.

Recognising the pivotal role of every individual in the hospitality industry, it is essential to enhance countermeasures against this pervasive human rights threat. From hotel staff to corporate teams, and from owners to operators, each role plays a crucial part in identifying, preventing, and responding to criminal activities related to human trafficking. With this blog series, the aim is to advocate for a comprehensive approach that goes beyond mere compliance training and awareness. By addressing a wide array of topics—from anti-money laundering to cybersecurity—this series underscores essential areas for fortifying anti-trafficking measures and understanding the multifaceted issue of human trafficking. Strengthening these initiatives not only protects the integrity and reputation of your establishments but also upholds your corporate responsibility to guests, employees, and the communities in which you operate. This initiative is integral to achieving a net positive impact, aligning with the vision of promoting sustainability, human rights, and ethical business practices in the hospitality industry.

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons – share your thoughts

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons serves as a critical reminder of the global fight against human trafficking and the need for collective action. On this important day, we encourage all hospitality companies to reflect on their role in combating this crime and to participate in our initiatives. Your feedback on topics of interest is invaluable.

Together, we can develop innovative solutions and share best practices to strengthen our collective impact. Please respond below with your thoughts, suggestions, and areas where you believe our efforts can be enhanced. Let’s work collaboratively to create a safer and more vigilant hospitality industry.

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Introducing Dr. Halleh Seddighzadeh

Dr. Halleh (Ha-lay) Seddighzadeh (Sah-dig-zah-day) is a globally recognised counter-trafficking expert and forensic traumatologist, with a distinguished career spanning over two decades in the fields of anti-trafficking and human rights in both the public and private sectors. As a clinician, she specialised in the psychological treatment of torture, complex traumatic stress, and dissociative conditions. With a focus on victims of coercive, predatory trauma – including survivors of sex and labour trafficking, war refugees, terrorism, genocide, gender-based violence, and youth who are vulnerable to indoctrination by violent extremist groups or cults – Dr. Halleh takes a holistic, evidence-based approach to healing.

This approach also governs her work as a consultant and advisor to large, multifaceted systems such as corporations, government agencies, law enforcement entities, tribal governments, and medical and social service organisations. These stakeholders face the complex and intricate challenge of addressing, preventing, and mitigating human trafficking and human rights violations while supporting survivors of trafficking. Dr. Halleh collaborates with the corporate sector crafting in-depth, cross-culturally informed, bespoke anti-trafficking programmes addressing both sex and labour trafficking, with a specialisation in the hospitality and gaming sectors. Guided by an ethos of devising pioneering, tailored, data-driven, and intelligence-led solutions that not only rectify but enrich the broader human rights movement, enhance their respective industries, and impart a lasting net-positive impact on the communities and operating jurisdictions they serve. Among her recent projects is the ongoing development of a ground-breaking counter-trafficking programme for Caesars Entertainment.

 

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