Santo Domingo, RD.-By signing an agreement, the General Directorate 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 that allow preventing, since the founding of the Cabo Rojo destination, child sexual exploitation and the violation of human rights. of childhood.
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 an axis transversal in all stages of the new destiny that is developing in the Southern region.
Freund highlighted 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 child sexual exploitation and the violation of children’s rights.
“We could say that it will be the first tourist destination that will work on a campaign from scratch, in a precise, clear and planned manner to combat this evil of using minors as sexual objects,” said Freund and emphasized that the Cabo Rojo-Pedernales project, More than a tourism project “it is a social project, of change, of social impact in a region that has so many needs, so much poverty.”
The official pointed out that the signing of this agreement is part of the actions carried out 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 as GARA, an initiative chaired by the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, and the first lady and president of the Cabinet for Children and Adolescents, Raquel Arbaje.
He explained that, together with Save The Children Dominicana, the DGAPP and the Pro-Pedernales Trust will focus on developing an awareness campaign in the province, with tourists who visit the destination and also with the contractors and employees of the companies that work in the place on the need to protect minors.
Freund indicated that Cabo Rojo is destined to be a leading 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 protocol and that it is a destination whose fundamental objective is the protection of children’s rights.”
Likewise, the president of Save The Children Dominicana, Juan Tomás Díaz Infante, thanked the DGAPP for its willingness to develop this initiative and highlighted that it is commendable that a public institution embraces this cause of preventing child exploitation in any manifestation 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,” said Díaz Infante, pointing out that other tourist destinations that exist in the country have not been possible, despite the efforts eradicate sexual abuse and exploitation of minors.
“With Cabo Rojo we have the opportunity to create a very different destiny,” emphasized the president of Save The Children Dominicana, and took the opportunity to call on the business sector to join this type of cause and indicated that there are many ways in which that can help protect children’s rights.
Also present at the signing ceremony were Save The Children Dominicana, its executive director, Alba Rodríguez; the M&E and Learning manager, Katherine Fernández; and Federico Jovine. For the DGAPP, the deputy technical director, Eliardo Cairo; the deputy director of Promotion, Izalia López; the legal director, Gray Peña; the technical director of the Execution Unit of the Pro-Pedernales Trust, Jose Rafael Miguel; and the Director of Communications, Elaine Nivar.
Agreement details
Among the commitments assumed by the parties are:
- Work collaboratively and in a complementary way, within a framework of respect, reflection, evaluation and learning for an effective and impactful response.
- Create mechanisms for communication, coordination and joint actions based on a Work Plan.
- Promote actions with a view to promoting the Rights of Children to guarantee the sustainability of the actions implemented.