FY 2008 PEDOPHILIA CERTIFICATION FOR WORLD TOURISM

UNCLAS MADRID 000363 SIPDIS SIPDIS IO/RHS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SP PHUM SOCI AORC SUBJECT: FY 2008 PEDOPHILIA CERTIFICATION FOR WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION REF: STATE 27762 ¶1. (U) Per reftel, Econoff conducted an investigation into the membership of the World Tourism Organization (WTO),based in Madrid, to confirm that no members of this organization condone or seek the legalization of pedophilia. Based on this investigation, post believes that there is no reason to suspect that the WTO grants any official status, accreditation, or recognition to any organization which promotes or seeks the legalization of pedophilia or has subsidiaries or member organizations that do. ¶2. (U) Econoff reviewed the list of roughly 300 "Affiliate members" comprised of business groups, destination councils and educational institutions. Based on the review of this list, there is no reason to suspect that any of the organizations are related with approval or promotion of the legalization of pedophilia. Post has a copy of this list and will send it on to IO/RHS per reftel. Alternatively, the list can be accessed at http://www.unwto.org/afiliados/directory/en/d irectory.php. ¶3. (U) The WTO has an extensive program under its "Task Force to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism" which was established in 1997. The task force had its twenty-first meeting in London on November 12, 2007, and featured a special session on successful strategies and good practices against sexual exploitation of children in tourism. ¶4. (U) Total staff time dedicated to this project was approximately 2-3 hours. ¶5. (U) The embassy contact for this issue is Economic Officer Lourdes Lamela, LamelaLM@state.gov, 34 91 587-2399. AGUIRRE