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[21 December 2007] - Sweden aims to step up efforts to combat child- sex tourism including raising awareness among employees of travel companies, reports say. Health and Social Affairs Minister Goran Hagglund said that it was necessary to "raise awareness among everybody who travels abroad and among those who work in the tourist sector," daily Dagens Nyheter reported. Hagglund said the government has adopted an action plan to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and planned to raise the issue within the Council of Europe among other international bodies. "We have to do all we can to prevent these awful activities," he said, saying the Swedish government had a responsibility to protect children, at home and abroad, against abuse. The Foreign Ministry's advice to people travelling abroad would be supplemented with information about combatting child-sex tourism and the exploitation of children. Hagglund said a person who sees something suspicious during a trip should report it to local police or police in Sweden. In July, the Swedish embassy to Thailand set up a special e-mail link on its web site as part of efforts to combat child-sex tourism in South-East Asia. Tourists who believe they have witnessed child-sex tourism were urged to write down their observations, noting the location and time of the sighting as well as a description of the suspect and child. The e-mail links to the Nordic police liaison office at the embassy, which liaises with authorities in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines. Further information pdf: http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=124587