The Children's Rights and Business PrinciplesIn a process led by UNICEF, the UN Global Compact and Save the Children – the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (the Principles) were developed to be the first comprehensive set of principles to guide companies on the full range of actions they can take in the workplace, marketplace and community to respect and support children’s rights.
CSR Workbook for BusinessThe UNICEF Pilot Workbook "Children are Everyone's Business" is a practical handbook to help companies understand and address their impact on children’s rights and a handbook for anyone with an interest in understanding the close interlinkages between business and children’s rights. Download and Find out more >>
World Child & Youth Forum 201322 March, Stockholm: The annual World Child & Youth Forum, initiated by the Swedish Royal Family, aims to create a forum that raises awareness of the UN Convention on the rights of the child. This year's theme is 'Children's rights - any of your business?'.
.22 March 2013 marks one year since the release of the CRBP – a global call on business to step up efforts to respect and support children’s rights. In the last year, 27 national events worldwide have encouraged the sharing of best practices for implementation, and created opportunities for partnerships and collective action at the local level among business and other societal actors.
UNICEF CSR Tools Pilot 2013UNICEF is developing guidance tools to support companies in implementing children's rights into their policies and processes. The Child Rights Checklist, Workbook, and Reporting Guidance are being updated and improved through a consultation process with companies during a pilot period from January to April 2013. Find out more about UNICEF's due diligence tools for business>>
State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children's rightsIn February 2013, the Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted a General Comment on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children's rights. It is the first UN human rights treaty body to address this issue directly in a General Comment.
Children's Rights and Business Principles
The Principles provide a comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing the impact of business on the rights and well-being of children.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
| 23 May | Child Rights and Business Principles Release in Azerbaijan | |
| 30 May | Child Rights and Business Principles Release in Republic of Korea |
RECENT EVENTS
UNICEF, the Indonesia Global Compact Network and Save the Children joined forces with Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection as well as other national partners in calling on the business community in the country to put children's rights at the centre of the corporate social responsibility agenda. The partners released the Children's Rights and Business Principles during a national ceremony in Jakarta that was attended by the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar, the Vice Chairperson of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN), Cr. Suryani Sidik Motik, as well as representatives of national and international private sector companies. See the press release and agenda.
17 January 2013
Guardian Sustainable Business and UNICEF hosted an Online Expert Panel on Assessing Business Impacts on Children, whereby practitioners, companies, academics and civil society discussed how companies can become pro-active in supporting child rights by addressing where their operations affect children. The panel comprised of Viktor Nylund (Senior Advisor, Corporate Social Responsibility, UNICEF), Claire Methven O'Brien (Dainish Institute of Human Rights), Helena Wright (Imperial College London), Debbie Coulter (Ethical Trading Initiative), Luke Wilde (TwentyFifty), Matthias Leisinger (Kuoni), and Milka Pietikainen (Millicom), who discussed 'How can business better assess any impacts on children'r rights?'. UNICEF's Impact Assessment Tool is being piloted with selected companies and is due for public release in April, 2013.
10 December 2012
The Dutch release of the Children's Rights and Business Principles involved many significant guest speakers, including Kirsten can den Hul (Dutch UN Women's Representative in 2011), Lilianne Ploumen (Minister of Foreign Trade and Development), and representatives form UNICEF, Save the Children and UN Global Compact. A panel of business leaders form Ikea, PGGM and ING Bank gave practical tips on implementing The Principles and engaged in an interactive discussion.
6 December 2012
UNICEF Madagascar hosted a National Release of the Children's Rights and Business Principles at the Louvre Hotel in Antanarivo in December, to create awareness of the contents of the principles and to create an opportunity for advocacy with the Madagascar private sector to use the principles in practice.
3 December 2012
The Children's Rights and Business Principles Forum in Belgium was attended by more than 200 invitees from business, the public sector and civil society. The event included a speech by Princess Mathilde of Belgium and a special message by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
Release of the Principles in Finland
17 October 2012
50 people attended the event opened by the Government representative who spoke about the UN Guiding Principles, EU CSR guidance and child rights. Then, Eija Hietavuo, From UNICEF, presented on the Principles on Children's Rights and Business and Save the Children presented on Marketing and Children. The panel was made of Metso, IKEA, Finatex (Finnish textile and clothing industries association) TV4/Sanoma and Ilmarinen; they discussed child labour in supply chain, marketing and children, child friendly workplace and responsible investment and children's rights. Ilmarinen also issued a press release endorsing their support for the Principles. Agenda of the event
Webinar "Children's Rights and Business continuing the Conversation: Implementation of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles"
4 October 2012
Since the global release of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles, the three sponsoring organizations have worked to raise awareness of the Principles and the importance of children as stakeholders for business, and to develop tools to help business with implementation. To date there have been almost twenty regional release events around the world, and another fifteen in the pipeline. The Principles were also featured at the Rio Corporate Sustainability Forum. Moreover, it has been very encouraging to see the uptake of the Principles within our Global Compact networks.This webinar continued the conversation. Join Mattias Leisinger, Head of Corporate Responsibility for Switzerland-based travel company Kuoni Group, and Victor Riega, Corporate Responsibility Consultant of Aviva Group, to explore the challenges and opportunities in integrating children’s rights into business. Click here to see the recorded version.
1 October 2012
25 March 2013
Children's rights not a top CSR priority, Unicef research reveals
Unicef finds over one-third of UK companies don't think children's rights are relevant to their business. Find the Article on the Guardian Sustainable Business Hub
22 March 2013
World Child & Youth Forum 2013
The World Child & Youth Forum (a registered charitable trust) was established in Stockholm, Sweden in 2009. Its aim is to be an independent multi-stakeholder platform that inspires to realise the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The third annual Forum will take place on March 22 (by invitation only) at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden with the theme ”Children’s Rights – Any of Your Business?”. 300 participants from every sector in society will attend, over 60% of which represent business.
The World Child & Youth Forum is a catalyst to facilitate cross sector dialogue and partnerships for the protection and fulfillment of children’s rights. The Children’s Rights and Business Principles were launched in March 2012 and the forum will include a stock taking event on global achievements and challenges so far. The program also covers the recently-adopted General Comment by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights. Business’ role in youth employment and access to clean water and sanitation will be discussed in the afternoon.
Speakers include Lord Michael Hastings, International Director of Corporate Citizenship, KPMG; Georg Kell, Executive Director, UN Global Compact; Jasmine Whitbread, CEO, Save the Children; Nigel Chapman, CEO, Plan International; Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom; Mikael Ohlsson, CEO, IKEA Group; Chris Avery, Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre; Marta Maurás, Former vice chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child; and Laura Turner Seydel. Director, Turner Foundation.
6 February 2013
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adopts General Comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights
In February 2013, the Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted a General Comment on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children's rights. It is the first UN human rights treaty body to address this issue directly in a General Comment.
The General Comment provides States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child with guidance on the nature and scope of their obligations under the Convention to respect, protect and fulfil child rights in the context of the impact of business activities. It provides States with a framework for implementing the Convention with regard to the business sector in key areas, including on how States should ensure that the activities and operations of business enterprises do not adversely impact on children’s rights; how to create an enabling and supportive environment for business enterprises to respect children’s rights including across any business relationships linked to their operations, products or services and across their global operations; and, how to ensure access to effective remedy for children whose rights have been infringed by a business enterprise.
The General Comment considers the relationship between State obligations regarding business activities and the Convention, it examines the scope of obligations in contexts where the impact of business operations on children´s rights is most significant, and it outlines a framework for implementation, addressing specifically the media and communications industry where relevant.
In developing the General Comment, the Committee consulted and discussed widely over the course of two years, including through public calls for online submissions, multi-stakeholder consultations, consultations with children in several countries, and an International Symposium in Sion, Switzerland in October 2012.
26 January 2013
UNICEF Platform on Business and Children’s Rights in Sweden
Following the release of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles in March 2012, the Swedish Committee for UNICEF launched a two-year corporate platform to engage Swedish companies on the implementation of the Principles using the draft due diligence tools developed by UNICEF. The platform is comprised of a series of ten workshops focused on helping companies better 4 understand how to fulfill their responsibility to respect and support children’s rights. The workshops are comprised of trainings and group exercises focused on: 1) the business and human rights landscape; 2) each of the ten Principles and the implications for business; and 3) piloting UNICEF’s due diligence tools, which will be finalised later this year.
More than 20 companies are participating in the platform, each of them representing more than $1 billion in annual turnover. The workshops provide an interactive learning environment through which participants share information and lessons learned on good and worst practices related to implementing the Principles. Already, some of the participants have started to incorporate a child rights perspective into their human rights due diligence processes by initiating child rights impact assessments and reviewing existing company policies to integrate relevant child rights components.
Business Role in Development Seen as Stronger than Ever Before, Media Coverage of Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum Shows
June 15 to 19 - Corporate Sustainability Forum - Rio
The four day meeting will bring over 1900 participants including more than 50% from business, but also civil society, government, media and UN to look at the role of private sector to developing a more sustainable world. UNICEF will be participating at the forum. Gary Stahl, UNICEF Brazil representative, will represent the organization at the special panel on children; and Suba Jayasekaran (CSR-PFP NY) and Wim Desmedt (Head of PFP, Brazil CO) will participate throughout the forum.
Article on UNICEF participation to the Forum - Forum Registration list - Forum agenda - Video of the conference
Special activities that we had been organizing in relation to this event were:
Children and Business: Making the Connection to Sustainability – June 17, 2012
UNICEF, together with UN Global Compact and Save the Children will organize a panel at the event, presenting the Children’s Rights and Business Principles; and bringing together business leaders to discuss why business should consider children as they develop their sustainability strategies. The session will be moderated by Jo Confino – Chief Editor of Guardian Sustainable Hub, and will feature speakers such as Susanne Stormer (Vice President, Novo Nordisk), Greg Priest (Sustainability Policy and Compliance, Ikea), and Cecila Rena (Grupo Arcor). A special guest speaker Tatiana Alves, with extensive experience working on environment and sustainability issues from business and civil society will make a special presentation to highlight the linkages between children and sustainability for business. Gary Stahl, UNICEF Representative for Brazil, will represent UNICEF at the meeting. The panel will be screened live through webfeed.
Agenda of the session on Children and Business
Business Talks to Young People about Sustainability: Twitter Chat – June 7, 2012 - 11am ET
In the lead up to the Rio event, UNICEF will also be organizing a twitter chat with young people to engage business on themes of sustainability, and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles. Keith Weed, Chief Marketing Officer from Unilever will participate as a business representative. The questions from young people will also feed into the panel at Rio; and posed to the speakers on the panel. Join the chat here.Read the Article.
Resources for Business
Beyond the Promotional Piggybank Child-Friendly Financial Products
Sustainability Reporting on Children's Rights
UNICEF CSR Working Paper
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UNICEF's Child Info.OrgMonitoring the situation of children and women
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Child Safety Online, UNICEF 2011
Global challenges and strategies
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Child labor - UCW Programme
Understanding children's work
The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights Interpretative guide by OHCHR
