Children’s Rights and Business Principles turns ten

30 April, Ulaanbaatar – Starting from mid-April, UNICEF has been hosting a series of discussions with the Government representatives and business associations to discuss the role of private sector as duty bearer of child rights. These consultations, held with entrepreneurs and private sector employers, and with the participation of international organizations working on child rights, were conducted with the support from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the National Agency for Family and Youth Development and the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The discussion results and recommendations from consultations will be presented at the National Forum of Duty-Bearers of the Rights of the Child to be held under the auspices of the President of Mongolia in May.  

The Forum is to take place on the tenth anniversary of the adoption of Children’s Rights and Business Principles. CRBPs were initially adopted in 2012 by UNICEF, Save the Children, and the UN Global Compact, to hold the private sector responsible for respecting and upholding the rights of children in their business operations.  

UNICEF has been promoting CRBPs in Mongolia since 2015. In 2021 the Government of Mongolia adopted the CRBP in an amendment to the country’s Labour Code. The law amendment, binding private sector employers to introduce child-friendly and child-safeguarding policies in their companies to ensure employees’ work-life balance, entered into force from January 2022. Moreover, this law amendment became an important legal basis for ensuring the CRBPs are reflected in the policies and decisions of all employers in the private sector.