Beyond Greening - Tourism Watch

Beyond Greening: Reflections on Tourism in the Rio-Process | Positioningpaperagency. The call was set out in two campaign briefings: "UNWTO-Civil Society Participation:Why it is time for the UNWTO to open its doors" 61 , and "Putting Tourism to Rights" 62 . Thebriefings were presented to the UNWTO at a seminar on tourism ethics in Bali on 11-13 June2011.UNWTO's current levels of civil society engagement are insufficient and unrepresentative ofthe multi-stakeholder approaches commonly practiced by the majority of UN agencies.Meaningful civil society engagement, including with organisations challenging unsustainabletourism development practices and associated human rights violations, is essential foreradicating exploitation within the global tourism industry and for promoting a more ethicalindustry, as espoused in the UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism 63 .Since then, the UNWTO has acknowledged a need for increased civil society participation. Ithas stated its commitment in this regard and affirmed its willingness to consult with NGOs onwhat form this could take. However, the UNWTO also states that it is severely hamstrung byresource limitations – but surely this is a question of priority rather than absolutes. As amembership organisation, it is primarily accountable to its members, who also significantlyshape the UNWTO’s agenda. This membership is overwhelmingly dominated by nationaltourism ministries and tourism businesses, including in countries where democratic processesand freedom of speech are extremely limited, and for whom community consultation is not apriority, despite being absolutely essential to the development of sustainable, equitabletourism development. The recent ill-judged decision by the UNWTO and World Travel &Tourism Council to extend an invitation to Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe to be a "GlobalLeader for Tourism" – a man who has perpetuated massive human rights abuses against hisown people through a repressive, autocratic regime and who has caused major long-termsocioeconomic harm to the country –underlines the major gaps in accountability if theUNWTO listens only to its members.Admittedly, there is also a need for civil society organisations across the world engaged inchallenging the harmful impacts of tourism and offering a critical perspective on this massiveglobal industry to link up and organise themselves more effectively. We too need to learn fromthe civil society networks that have been formed to engage in other specific UN processes,such as UNAIDS (see below), and to seek resources in this regard. Securing funding will notbe easy, given the widespread lack of recognition among the donor community that tourismcan do harm as well as good. Indeed, this is the challenge we have always faced and the reasonwhy tourism development is so rarely on the agenda of decision-makers as a human rightsissue, who instead push constantly and uncritically for tourism’s growth as a panacea todeveloping countries’ economic woes. The European Tourism Network (TEN) was created in1984 as an informal solidarity network to the Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT)representing the global South. In the years since these networks formed, countlesscampaigning groups, community-based organisations and grassroots networks have sprungup around the globe. There is immense potential for a global civil society network that could61"UNWTO-Civil Society Participation: Why it is time for the UNWTO to open its doors" by Tourism Concern has been endorsed by: EEDTourism Watch (Germany); Naturefriends International (Austria); Respect (Austria); Informatie Verre Reizen (Netherlands); Arbeitskreis fürTourismus und Entwicklung (Switzerland); and the Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT).www.tourismconcern.org.uk/uploads/file/campaigns/UNWTO-CSO%20Participation-Briefing-June11.pdf62"Putting Tourism to Rights" was produced by EED Tourism Watch and is based on Tourism Concern’s report of the same name, plusadditional analysis undertaken by EED Tourism Watch and Arbeitskreis für Tourismus und Entwicklung.63For more information about the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, visit: www.unwto.org/ethics/index.php90