About Us
Our History
The Network grew out of a roundtable held by Shiva Foundation and the Thomson Reuters Foundation in November 2016 when international hotel brands, independent hotel owners, and management companies came together to discuss the challenges the hotel sector faces in eradicating various forms of exploitation at all levels of industry.
Due to the complex structure of the sector, we knew it would make addressing modern slavery that much more difficult. This was one of the primary motivators for the Network. A hotel might be under one brand, owned by another organisation and managed by another altogether. With multiple entities involved at each level, one of the essential roles of the Network is to facilitate constructive dialogue between these different groups . By bringing key stakeholders within the industry together, the Network sought to address accountability and foster communication so that anti-slavery initiatives are realistic and feasible for all involved.
“In order to tackle this issue we need to collaborate and we need to facilitate communication between all these complex layers. As a result of the roundtable we established the first ever industry-wide network that brings together corporate and operational levels to tackle this horrific crime”
Meenal Sachdev, Shiva Foundation Director
Meenal Sachdev – Shiva Foundation, Caroline Meledo – Hilton Global and Klara Skrivankova – Anti Slavery International launch the Stop Slavery Hotel Industry Network at the Trust Women Conference 2016
Our Goals
The Network’s primary goal in 2017 is to look at the challenges stakeholders face in realising a vision of a slavery-free industry, and to address them as a collective.
The aims of the Network for its first year are to:
Work collectively, commit to meeting regularly and sharing best practice between members and across the industry.
Increase awareness of modern slavery at all levels within and across hotels, and provide an accessible platform for anti-modern slavery resources, information and support.
Create guidance (in the form of a toolkit, report or Code of Conduct) to address challenges identified and faced by the industry as a whole when seeking to tackle modern slavery.
The Network has committed to meeting regularly over the next 12 months to pull together current good practice, learn from individual experiences, and facilitate action that requires this type of collaboration for it to be successful.
“We look forward to sharing the work of this collaboration with our members outside the UK, to ensure that hotel groups can work together on human rights, and that insights are applied internationally.”
Nicolas Perin, Programme Manager, the International Tourism Partnership
Who we are
In the past, NGOs have faced many challenges securing active participation from the industry in the past when trying to address modern slavery. This Network has found great success due to the fact that it is an initiative that was spearheaded by individuals from within the sector itself.
The Network brings together:
Hotel owners
Brands
Recruitment agency representatives
Hotel management staff
Procurement experts
These key actors come together with the aim of discussing shared challenges and impactful collective actions to tackle modern slavery. With the endorsement of the British Hospitality Association (BHA), the trialled and tested resources resulting from the Network will be accessible to the BHA’s membership of over 40,000 organisations. It is by working together that we will be able to make an impact.
“The safety and wellbeing of those involved in the hotel industry – employees, guests, and all those involved in the supply chains – is paramount. This network will help ensure that best practice in combating modern slavery is shared and implemented across the board, and we are pleased to endorse it and encourage its expansion among our members.”
Ufi Ibrahim, Chief Executive BHA
