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IPPG Newsletters: March 2002
Trekking Wrongs: Porters' Rights
Tourism Concern joins the campaign |
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| Emma Reeve |
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"We are victims of manipulation; of being contracted as 'beasts of burden'... The behaviour shown to us goes against our most basic rights to work, to dignity and as citizens." All too familiar sentiments from the Himalayas, but these are the words of a porters' syndicate in Peru. There's growing awareness that porters' problems are repeated worldwide, and Tourism Concern has decided it's time for them to join the campaign.
Porters' groups are increasingly organising and demanding change, but the response of UK tour operators has been pretty poor. Tourism Concern works to influence change in the UK industry towards more responsible and 'fairly traded' tourism, so the blatant abuse of porters' rights is an obvious area for us to tackle. We sent a questionnaire to UK operators about their porters and were concerned to see most leaving responsibility for porters wholly to their ground agents and knowing little about such arrangements, e.g. the basis on which porters are employed; what happens if they are injured or fall ill; or what equipment and training is provided.
We've established a steering committee of UK industry representatives and destination country experts including the UK IPPG rep, and drawn up suggested guidelines for operators. Recommendations include, for example, setting up direct channels of communication with porters' organisations; hiring porters through formal contracts including insurance policies; and the payment of a stable and fair basic wage. We want operators to integrate porters guidelines into their wider responsible tourism policies.
2002 being the UN Year of Ecotourism and of Mountains makes it an excellent time for the UK tourism industry to demonstrate its support for equitable tourism. Tourism Concern believes that a commitment to uphold the rights and fair working conditions of porters is the perfect place to start.
For further information, see www.tourismconcern.org.uk or email Lara Marsh, Campaigns Officer - lara@tourismconcern.org.uk.
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