Hadsell, Virginia

Biography / Administrative History

A laywoman in the United Presbyterian Church in the United States, Virginia Hadsell (1922 - ), helped coordinate a consultation in 1984 titled Tourism: The Human Dimension. The consultation was held at the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California. This meeting led to the establishment of the Center for Responsible Tourism. In a 1993 informational flyer about CRT, they describe themselves as "a para-church/tourism-activist organization which confronts North Americans with the impact we have as tourists on our sisters and brothers in the Third World, on their cultures, economy, and environment." This included the issues of sex tourism, and the prostitution and trafficking of women and children as well as tourism's impact which can cause cultural and environmental destruction.

Hadsell had previously planned and led study tours for United States lay people in various countries. She became aware of and was then influenced by the Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism (ECTWT), now known as the Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT). ECTWT was founded in 1982 by ecumenical organizations worldwide as a response to the profound impact of tourism on third world communities. It continues to work in collaboration with faiths-based and secular groups to promote socially, ecologically and ethically responsible tourism that benefits all. The Center for Responsible Tourism was established as a group in the United States that would participate in and disseminate the information of ECTWT (Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism).

CRT Center for Responsible Tourism built a membership and organized the work carried out by volunteers. It was first based in San Anselmo, California, later in Berkeley. Virginia Hadsell served as Director. A Board of Directors was formed and in 1988 CRT Center for Responsible Tourism was incorporated in California as a 501(c) non-profit corporation. CRT Center for Responsible Tourism under Hadsell's direction organized and held annual consultations on various themes. Members attended numerous tourism, child prostitution, and women's issues consultations, seminars, and workshops throughout Asia and Europe. Relations and correspondence with ECTWT headquarters and staff were closely maintained. Relations and coordination were maintained to varying degrees with a myriad of groups throughout the United States and the world with similar interests and missions. One such close relationship was with PEACE (Protecting Environment and Children Everywhere), a group in Sri Lanka directed by Maureen Seneviratne. CRT Center for Responsible Tourism produced and disseminated a newsletter Responsible Tourism and other informational materials, planned and held workshops and conferences, coordinated lectures and workshops with visiting people who worked in the field, and collected resources for research and public information.

In 1990, participants at a tourism consultation in Thailand exposed the degree to which child prostitution was increasing in many Asian countries. The consultation ended with a determination to take action, and ECPAT, End Child Prostitution Asian Tourism, was established as a three-year campaign, 1990 - 1993, focusing on ending the commercial aspect of sexual exploitation of children. CRT Center for Responsible Tourism decided to become a participating organization in the campaign. They continued the work and expanded the name to the North America Coordinating Center for Responsible Tourism, NACCRT. Relations and correspondence were very strong with ECPAT, particularly the director, Ron O'Grady.

Now using the same acronym, ECPAT, the organization name has changed to End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes. The early years were concentrated on expanding the campaign in Asia; defining its strategy; and establishing relationships. They held the first international consultation to assess the problem in Thailand, March 1992. It was agreed that the focus should not be limited to Asian countries, but should address the international scope of the problem. Links were forged with European NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and international organizations such as ECTWT. It was decided to continue ECPAT End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism for another 3-year period, 1994 - 1996. In 1996, partnering with UNICEF and the NGO Group for the Rights of the Child, ECPAT co-organized the World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in Stockholm, Sweden. (See Box 12 File Folders 47 - 50 and Box 13 File Folders 1 - 4.) ECPAT then ceased to be a campaign regional to Asia, and became a global non-governmental organization (NGO) and network.

CRT Center for Responsible Tourism participated in all phases of ECPAT's End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism evolution. By 1994, however, the NACCRT members were in disagreement as to the focus of the Center's mission, geographic span, and the groups with which it should partner. The Center splintered with members leaving and working on the focus in which each were interested. Some members stayed and continued the work in partnership with ECTWT and ECPAT End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism. The name reverted to the Center for Responsible Tourism, a program of which became known as Broken Bud. Hadsell, joined by Dorothy (Dody) Donnelly and later an intern, Diana Cabcabin, continued the Center in a less organized way. The work tapered off through the late-1990s into the early-2000s. It cannot be determined an actual date when the Center for Responsible Tourism ceased operation.