ARTICLES
ON PORTER AND WORKERS RIGHTS
The Fight for Workforce Equity on Kilimanjaro (Alpinist)
International Travel News: The Life of a Peruvian Porter
The women breaking the glass ceiling to reach the “roof of Africa”
Deadly journey: Female porters on Mount Kilimanjaro face sexual abuse
Kilimanjaro Tourism and What It Means to Local Porters and for the Local Environment
Who Carries the Load? (article on porters in Pakistan)
The Health of Local Tourism Employees: The Case of the Inca Trail Porters
Scandal of the Kilimanjaro Sherpas (UK Times)
On Adventure Imperialism & Colonial Mindset
Everest 2008: false summits and adventure imperialism
ON INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
Indigenous People and the Travel Industry – Global Good Practice Guidelines 2017 (Espanol)
FLYERS FOR AWARENESS (PORTERS)
As a tourist, if you are trekking on the Classic Inca Trail, Kilimanjaro or the Himalayan trails in Nepal, we encourage you to print the flyers provided below in the region’s respective language and disseminate the flyers to porters as a way to inform them about The Porter Voice Collective and the importance of sharing their voices to create changes on their working conditions.
Peru
Kilimanjaro
Nepal
Nepali
See English version here.
WHICH TREKKING AGENCIES PRACTICE FAIR AND EQUITABLE TREATMENT OF PORTERS?
Unfortunately, the lack of transparency with business operations with most, if not all, trekking agencies makes it highly challenging to determine which companies are genuinely honoring the fundamental rights of the porters. PVC intends to closely monitor the conditions in the industry with the hope that we can create a viable list of companies that go above and beyond simply following the regulations that are currently in place by the government. As it stands, the humane treatment of porters does not currently align with the laws of each country. Therefore, we must evaluate the companies’ efforts based on human conscience and morality.
Finally, be discerning of the articles that you read about porters and their working conditions. Based on our investigation in Peru, for example, some companies have utilized the porters and their struggles to promote their company as being an “ally” or “supporter” of the porters when their real motive is to promote their company and gain more profits.. Even our investigation into he work of the Porter Federation in Peru has revealed a significant amount of corruption by the Federation officers themselves. The status of the industry is filled with corruption and the best you can do as an ally is to ask questions of companies and demand that the industry adopt a new kind of standard of operations that focuses on workforce equity.
TOURISTS RESOURCES
Best Practices Requires Transparency on Agency Partnership
ORGANIZATIONS THAT ADVOCATE FOR PORTER RIGHTS AND VOICES
We are currently investigating the work of organizations claiming to support the porters in Peru, Nepal & Tanzania. To date, there remains a lack of transparency in terms of the real benefit, if any, that the porters are receiving from such organizations.