American Resort & Lodging Affiliation (AHLA) Interim President & CEO Kevin Carey launched the next assertion after the introduction of the Halting of Trafficking and Exploitation in Lodging Act, or the HOTEL Act, which inspires federal employees touring for enterprise to remain at motels with anti-human trafficking packages.
“The HOTEL Act acknowledges the essential position motels play within the struggle in opposition to human trafficking, and we’re proud to help this essential laws,” mentioned AHLA Interim President & CEO Kevin Carey. “We sit up for working with Reps. Smith and Krishnamoorthi and lawmakers throughout the Home and Senate to move this laws.”
Background
The Halting of Trafficking and Exploitation in Lodging Act, or the HOTEL Act, was launched by Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Sick. It will encourage federal employees touring for enterprise to remain at motels with anti-human trafficking packages.
To qualify beneath the invoice, lodge coaching have to be developed in session with both a state authorities, human trafficking survivors, survivor-led anti-trafficking organizations, or any group that’s nationally acknowledged for its experience on this space – as an example, the AHLA Basis.
AHLA, its members, and the AHLA Basis are steadfastly dedicated to trafficking prevention, and motels have been a frontrunner on this space for a few years.
- Since 2019, the No Room for Trafficking (NRFT) initiative has supported trafficking-prevention coaching for lodge workers by means of a partnership with PACT (previously ECPAT-USA).
- These free coaching modules assist lodge workers perceive what to search for and the way to reply to indicators of trafficking, whereas explaining learn how to show human trafficking indicator signage in motels, set up company-wide insurance policies, coordinate with regulation enforcement, and share success tales and finest practices.
- The introductory coaching has been taken greater than 1.8 million instances up to now, and hundreds are educated yearly. These numbers don’t embrace extra anti-trafficking coaching efforts by AHLA members, which range in size and frequency.
- The AHLA Basis in 2022 introduced expanded efforts to help trafficking survivors by means of the trade’s first-ever Survivor Fund, which has raised $3.7 million since its inception.
- As a part of its continued dedication to combatting this situation, AHLA Basis is matching NRFT Survivor Fund contributions as much as $5 million {dollars} (with an general purpose of $10 million in whole contributions.)
“By the AHLA Basis’s No Room for Trafficking initiative, the lodge trade is united within the effort to forestall human trafficking and help survivors,” mentioned AHLA Basis President Anna Blue. “The collective impression of the trade can speed up modern human trafficking prevention efforts and upstream methods to make a optimistic distinction within the communities the place we work and dwell.”
