“…304 Notwithstanding these standards and guidance, a small amount of evidence exists regarding businesses considering child wellbeing in their decisions and actions, and many enterprises consider it irrelevant or inimical to their activities. 305 Existing guidance is seen as soft and optional, with corporate behaviour dependent on "reputational accountability and the coercive strength of the web of accountability that is created through networks of organisations and overlapping and comple menting soft law regulations." 306 Collins,305 in an extensive mixedmethod review of these issues, considers both the commercial and rights perspectives, and cites the former chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Jaap Doek who described the "insincere eloquence" of some corporate social responsibility activities, and the inseparability of issues of corporate behaviour and children's rights.…”
Section: Voluntary Regulation and Existing Global Framework Are Not mentioning
Despite dramatic improvements in survival, nutrition, and education over recent decades, today's children face an uncertain future. Climate change, ecological degradation, migrating populations, conflict, pervasive inequalities, and predatory commercial practices threaten the health and future of children in every country. In 2015, the world's countries agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet nearly 5 years later, few countries have recorded much progress towards achieving them. This Commission presents the case for placing children, aged 0-18 years, at the centre of the SDGs: at the heart of the concept of sustainability and our shared human endeavour. Governments must harness coalitions across sectors to overcome ecological and commercial pressures to ensure children receive their rights and entitlements now and a liveable planet in the years to come.
“…304 Notwithstanding these standards and guidance, a small amount of evidence exists regarding businesses considering child wellbeing in their decisions and actions, and many enterprises consider it irrelevant or inimical to their activities. 305 Existing guidance is seen as soft and optional, with corporate behaviour dependent on "reputational accountability and the coercive strength of the web of accountability that is created through networks of organisations and overlapping and comple menting soft law regulations." 306 Collins,305 in an extensive mixedmethod review of these issues, considers both the commercial and rights perspectives, and cites the former chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Jaap Doek who described the "insincere eloquence" of some corporate social responsibility activities, and the inseparability of issues of corporate behaviour and children's rights.…”
Section: Voluntary Regulation and Existing Global Framework Are Not mentioning
Despite dramatic improvements in survival, nutrition, and education over recent decades, today's children face an uncertain future. Climate change, ecological degradation, migrating populations, conflict, pervasive inequalities, and predatory commercial practices threaten the health and future of children in every country. In 2015, the world's countries agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet nearly 5 years later, few countries have recorded much progress towards achieving them. This Commission presents the case for placing children, aged 0-18 years, at the centre of the SDGs: at the heart of the concept of sustainability and our shared human endeavour. Governments must harness coalitions across sectors to overcome ecological and commercial pressures to ensure children receive their rights and entitlements now and a liveable planet in the years to come.
“…Despite all this direction about what is expected of business, there remains considerable disjuncture between what is advocated in the 'business and human rights' and 'children's rights and business' agendas and what actually happens in practice [21,24,101], especially in relation to the rights of children [3,18,28,102]. The two children's rights programs we examined aimed to advance children's rights in the Indonesian oil palm industry.…”
Section: What Companies Should Do To Respect Children's Rights In Practicementioning
confidence: 99%
“…In their business activities and relationships, oil palm and other companies interact with children, not only as possible workers, but also with children who are the dependents of their employees, with children who are members of the local communities in which the companies operate, and with children as consumers [1][2][3][4]. Although the important issue of child labor is a matter of concern in the oil palm sector [5][6][7][8][9], we believe that the palm oil and other industries should also consider the broader range of human rights issues that arise from the direct and indirect social and environmental impacts of their business activities.…”
Although companies have many direct and indirect impacts on the lives of children, discussion of the responsibility of business to respect the rights of children has primarily focused on child labor. Using UNICEF’s Children’s Rights and Business Principles as a framework for our analysis, we considered the activities of oil palm plantation companies operating in Indonesia. Our data come from key informant interviews and reflection on two programs established to promote respect for children’s rights in the Indonesian palm oil industry: one by Pusat Kajian Perlindungan Anak (PKPA) (Center for Child Study and Protection); and one by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in conjunction with UNICEF. We considered: how plantation company activities impacted children’s lives; how companies demonstrated respect for children’s rights; and how observance of children’s rights can be improved. We discuss four problematic issues: getting company commitments to children’s rights into policy and practice; having a strong business case for respecting human rights and children’s rights; contradictory objectives within companies; and complexities around children in the workplace. We argue that a children’s rights based approach should be applied to the activities of all organizations. This children’s rights lens is needed to overcome the invisibility of children in society and industry, and to address the root causes of human rights harms. We note that respecting children’s rights will likely contribute to getting a social license to operate and grow.
“…These policies have a broad remit including helping to protect children affected by emergencies, respecting and supporting children's rights in security arrangements and reinforcing community and government efforts to protect and fulfil children's rights. These prescriptions are ambitious not only because they cover a broad range of issues but also because, as argued by Collins, ‘such a rights‐based approach is not an easy adjustment for most businesses to grasp, much less [to] operationalise’ (: 596). Whether business can really assume all these roles is questionable; Collins goes on to cite an academic who says that for businesses adopting child‐friendly policies:was a real learning curve, and to be fair, their bread and butter isn't looking at the intricacies of the legal framework around children's rights or human rights.…”
Section: Redefining the Boundaries Involving Children's Rights And Bumentioning
Children's rights in business have become a controversial topic in the public arena where cases of child labour in the supply chain tend to dominate discussions. This review takes a wider perspective on children as producers, consumers, stakeholders and generally agents in, rather than passive recipients of, business processes. It eschews questions surrounding the ethics of the international business agenda as regards children in order to focus on the child's right to expression and to be heard. This, it is argued, is a much more neglected debate which, if better understood and more widely acted upon, would drive forward policy action as regards children's rights in business.
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