Lumos launches campaign to end orphanage tourism and volunteering
Lumos aims to change attitudes to volunteering in orphanages, and ultimately end it, and the OSCE classifies more than 600 indicators of human trafficking.
Lumos has launched a three-year global campaign to challenge attitudes toward orphanage tourism and volunteering, #HelpingNotHelping. The campaign is backed by recently revised travel advice from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office warning of the potential harm of orphanage tourism and volunteering. Launched by Lumos’ Founder, J.K. Rowling, at the One Young World global leaders’ forum in London, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the harms of orphanage ‘voluntourism’, including its role as a driver of child trafficking.
Lumos is calling on businesses and educational establishments (schools, universities, colleges, etc) to adopt a policy that protects their activities, educates staff and tackles family separation and ‘orphanage trafficking’. A dedicated Helping Not Helping website has been created offering a range of ways the public can raise awareness of the cause. This includes providing an email template to be sent to schools, colleges, and universities calling for a ban on promoting “orphanage tourism”, and policy templates for the education sector and businesses.
The campaign is also collecting stories from those affected by the issue, volunteers who have experienced orphanages, supporters of the campaign and people who are helping to make a difference through other projects that help families stay together and strengthen communities. Please get in touch to share your impact story!
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy updates and news:
The Gambia, acting on behalf of the 57 Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, filed a historic case with the United Nations' highest court yesterday, seeking to hold Myanmar accountable over its treatment of its minority Muslim population, the Rohingya.
United Nations agencies in a new report highlight the needs of thousands of unaccompanied and separated children who have arrived in Italy as refugees, lacking the proper support to transition through to adulthood.
Following the money: Compendium of resources and Step-by-step Guide to Financial Investigations Into trafficking in Human Beings, a new paper by the OSCE Office for the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings classifies more than 600 indicators and typologies of trafficking in human beings (THB) and provides a step-by-step guide describing a list of practical steps to follow in order to start successful financial investigations into THB.
The battle against human trafficking in Bangladesh needs to address the issue of child marriages
Government crackdown targets labor and civil society activists in the Philippines
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