Cabo Rojo to be the first destination to prevent child sexual exploitation

Through the signing of an agreement, the Directorate General of Public-Private Partnerships (DGAPP), as trustee of the Pro-Pedernales Trust, assumed the commitment with the international organization Save The Children, to work and assume protocols and actions to prevent, from the foundation of the Cabo Rojo destination, the commercial sexual exploitation of children and the violation of children’s rights.

The agreement signed by the executive director of the DGAPP, Sigmund Freund, and the president of Save The Children Dominicana, Juan Tomás Díaz Infante, proposes to jointly develop child protection policies, protocols and procedures, which will be implemented as a transversal axis in all stages of the new destination being developed in the Southern region.

Freund emphasized that with the support of Save The Children Dominicana, Cabo Rojo will be the first tourist destination that, from the beginning, will work in accordance with international protocols to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and the violation of children’s rights.

“We could say that it will be the first tourist destination that from the beginning will work a campaign, in a precise, clear and planned way to combat this evil of using minors as if they were sexual objects”, said Freund and emphasized that the Cabo Rojo-Pedernales project, more than a tourist project “is a social project, of change, of social impact in a region that has so many needs, so much poverty”, he said.

He pointed out that the signing of this agreement is part of the actions developed by the government after the incorporation of the Dominican Republic to the Regional Action Group of the Americas for the Prevention of Child Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, known by its acronym GARA, an initiative presided by the Minister of Tourism, David Collado and the First Lady and President of the Cabinet of Children and Adolescents, Raquel Arbaje.

He explained that, together with Save The Children Dominicana, the DGAPP and the Fideicomiso Pro-Pedernales, they will work to develop an awareness campaign in the province, tourists visiting the destination and also with contractors and employees of companies working in the area on the need to protect minors.

He indicated that Cabo Rojo is called to be a reference destination both in environmental issues and in the type of tourism that will be offered to those who decide to visit it. “Cabo Rojo will make it known that it has its own protocol and that it is a destination whose fundamental objective is the protection of children’s rights”.

Díaz Infante thanked the DGAPP for its willingness to develop this initiative and emphasized that it is commendable that a public institution embraces this cause of preventing commercial exploitation of children in any form in a tourist destination.

“As we know, tourism brings many good things, but it also brings many bad things and preventing it from the beginning can make a difference,” he said.

He pointed out that other tourist destinations in the country have not been able to eradicate the abuse and sexual exploitation of minors, despite their efforts. “With Cabo Rojo we have the opportunity to create a very different destination.

He took the opportunity to call on the business sector to join this type of cause and indicated that there are many ways to help protect the rights of children.