From the top left: The staff at Clarion Hotel Post, informational material on the tables at Clarion Hotel Amaranten, Camilla Hannen, front desk manager at H. Lorensberg, RealStars Stockholm process leader Malin Säflund at the information desk at Clarion Hotel Amaranten.
On the bottom row: Jennie Wennberg, front desk manager at Q.H. Waterfront, materials at the check-in desk at Clarion Hotel Amaranten, sign in the elevator at H. Lorensberg.
On October 18th, it was the EU’s Anti-Trafficking Day, and RealStars worked on many levels to spread awareness about prostitution and trafficking across different platforms throughout the day. We are also pleased to see that many other organizations, hotels, and individuals shared our initiatives on social media.
This year, we continued the tradition of taking a stand and mobilizing against sexual exploitation together with different target groups. Activities took place in schools and hotels, and we alerted property companies, businesses, and Thai massage parlors that we must collaborate to do our utmost to prevent these crimes. On the EU Anti-Trafficking Day, our goal was to spread knowledge and increase engagement broadly.
Some activities that RealStars carried out during the day included:
– Two lectures with students from the Craft and Care programs at Tyresö Gymnasium
– An information desk for all students at Tyresö Gymnasium
– An information desk at Clarion Hotel Amaranten
– A social media campaign to highlight exploitation in Thai massage parlors
In addition, we conducted information efforts directed at real estate companies and other businesses to encourage more to get involved and strengthen their anti-trafficking efforts through our initiatives “A Business Free from Trafficking”, “Property Owners Against Trafficking,” and “Hotels Against Trafficking”.
We are also happy to report that our initiatives against exploitation in Thai massage parlors and hotels received broad coverage from other actors on social channels, and more hotels chose to acknowledge the day with notices and signs in their establishments. In the pictures, you can see some examples, such as Clarion Hotel Amaranten in Stockholm, where we had an information desk, and where they placed signs about the initiative at their check-in desks, as well as the staff at Clarion Hotel Post in Gothenburg, where the staff wore RealStars Fair Fucking Sex t-shirts – a very effective way to mark their stance and draw attention from guests.
Hotel Flora has been part of the initiative since 2013 and was the first Fair Sex hotel. They shared how valuable the initiative is:
“We are proud of our collaboration, and it feels reassuring to show our checklist at every hiring. We also have discussions to maintain and update ourselves on how we can detect, prevent, and stop!”
Several hotels in Gothenburg and Stockholm set up RealStars signs in their lobbies and elevators, including Hotel Lorensberg, Quality Hotel Waterfront, Freys Hotel, and Hotel Vanilla. Jennie Wennberg, who is the front desk manager at Hotel Waterfront, felt it was important to highlight the EU Anti-Trafficking Day and they also hung signs on door handles that read “We don’t have room for human trafficking.”
Additionally, many of the hotels had info brochures and membership leaflets from RealStars available to encourage their guests to become members. It was wonderful to see such a significant commitment among the hotels in Gothenburg and Stockholm!
Ahead of October 18th, we also published an op-ed about the dilemma of so-called digital brothels in Svenska Dagbladet. Two strong proposals were presented by Malin Roux Johansson, founder of RealStars, and Thomas Ahlstrand, former prosecutor at the National Unit Against International and Organized Crime.
It was a successful day, filled with discussions about sexual exploitation, how people are victimized around us daily, and what we can do together to work towards a zero-vision against prostitution and human trafficking – no one should have to be exploited for sexual purposes.
Thanks to Tyresö Gymnasium and Clarion Hotel Amaranten for hosting us, to the other hotels that engaged throughout the day, and to everyone who shared our efforts and spoke with us during the day – and not least, to those who became members to help us do even more!
Join here:
RealStars Sweden
RealStars Stockholm