Mexican Senate approves document checks for adults traveling with children — Mexico News Daily
Mexico’s Senate unanimously approved an amendment to the General Tourism Law aimed at preventing the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. It provides for checks of official documents of adults traveling with minors, Mexico News Daily reports.
Document checks
Tourism service providers must verify documents confirming a family relationship, parental rights, guardianship, or care and custody status in relation to a minor. If an adult cannot confirm such grounds, a hotel or rental service, among others, must refuse the booking — regardless of whether it is made in person or online.
Following a refusal, the service provider must also immediately notify the authorities for further verification. At the same time, it has not yet been determined which official documents will be accepted as confirmation and which specific tourism services will be required to comply with the new requirements.
Lawyer Magda Sayas wrote in a column for Diario del Istmo that the practical implementation of the amendment will require training for employees who interact with customers and updates to internal online booking systems operating in Mexico.
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Vote and Senate data
The bill was unanimously approved with 104 votes and sent to the president’s office for signing. According to the document, the Ministry of Tourism defined the sexual exploitation of minors in the tourism sector as cases in which an offender poses as a domestic or foreign tourist and travels to a specific location to establish sexual contact with minors.
In a statement, the Senate, citing World Vision Mexico data, called Mexico the second-largest destination for the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and the world leader in the consumption of child pornography. PAN Senator Laura Esquivel Torres said the amendment should limit opportunities for the sexual exploitation of minors. PRI Senator Carolina Viggiano Austria said that more than 16,000 children in Mexico are in sexual exploitation networks, mainly in tourist destinations.
In May, the Hotel Association of Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres in the state of Quintana Roo formally committed under the global The Code initiative, aimed at eradicating the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in the tourism industry.
