The Children's Rights and Business Principles
On 24 June 2010, UNICEF, the United Nations Global Compact and Save the Children launched a process to develop a set of Principles that would seek to outline the full range of actions that business can take to respect and support children’s rights. While some excellent initiatives already exist that provide guidance on particular dimensions of the business and children relationship, currently, no comprehensive set of principles exists to contextualize these within an overall coherent framework for businesses and stakeholders on what to do to respect and support children’s rights.
The Principles will thus seek to present business, civil society, trade unions, government, National Human Rights Institutions, academia, children, adolescents and other stakeholders with an unprecedented opportunity to join forces in an effort to better enable the private sector to become a more positive force for children. Whether in the workplace, marketplace or community, the Principles on Business and Children’s Rights will seek to maximize the positive impacts and minimize the negative ramifications that business activities may have on children.
Businesses have a broad reach into society through their practices and products that can be associated with a variety of children’s rights. The corporate sector can mobilize resources and promote child and women friendly business and marketing practices, and children are natural stakeholders for businesses.
Based upon the research undertaken to date, the Initiative has identified seven thematic areas where business interacts with children:
- Children’s rights and corporate governance
- Workplace
- Supply chain
- Products and services
- Environment and resources
- Community investment
- Engaging with governments, children and other stakeholders
To read the full document, Children's Rights and Business Principles
