Children's Rights are at the heart of 'Business'

Beijing, 14 July 2011 – UN Global Compact, UNICEF and Save the Children are inviting businesses and civil society to take an active role in developing a global standard of business principles pertaining to children's rights. Through an online consultation process, representatives of the private sector and civil society can help shape the Children's Rights and Business Principles, which aim to set the standard for child-friendly businesses everywhere. At the same time, leading business and civil society representatives are meeting in Beijing and Shanghai for consultations.

The Children's Rights and Business Principles (CRBP), to be launched this November, will be the first comprehensive set of principles to guide companies on the full range of actions they may take in the workplace, marketplace and community to respect and support children's rights.

"This is an historic process. The principles will build the corporate sector's awareness of children's rights in relation to their business practices," said Ms. Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF Representative in China. “This is a global movement to place child rights on the corporate social responsibility agenda."

The private sector can make an important contribution towards the realization of child rights not only through its own practices and policies, but also by using its influence to change attitudes, policies and institutions.

This timely initiative addresses a void in children's rights, and also reflects a rising interest within the corporate sector to move beyond the "do no harm" mentality and help foster child-friendly environments within stronger, more resilient communities. Aside from the moral imperative of protecting children, the principles also make good business sense.

"The future Children's Rights and Business Principles will be an important guidance for companies active in China and these consultations will provide an excellent opportunity for companies and other stakeholders to influence and shape the principles", says Britta Östrom, Executive Director for CCR CSR in Beijing.

Supporting the Children's Rights and Business Principles can help companies minimize material risks and discover new business opportunities. Research suggests that child-friendly policies and practices may be indicative of good corporate governance and better risk management - enhancing brand value, increasing employee satisfaction, driving consumer loyalty, and contributing to more sustainable value creation in the long term. Intended to be a unifying point of reference for the impact of business activities  on children, the Principles aim to cover a broad range of categories, including:

• respecting and protecting children's rights in the workplace and supply chain
• establishing family-friendly working conditions that support parents or caregivers
• ensuring that products and services to which children may be exposed are safe, don't impact children's lives negatively and are marketed in an ethical manner
• considering the impact of business activities on their surroundings, safeguarding the environment for future generations, and making sure business operations do not result in the displacement of communities

"We are very excited by the opportunities that the Children's Rights and Business Principles are already creating for businesses and other stakeholders," said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. "We very much welcome any effort to explore what further steps business can take to help advance children's rights in the workplace, marketplace and in communities around the world."

The Children's Rights & Business Principles (CRBP) is a joint initiative by UNICEF, the UN Global Compact and Save the Children to offer guidance to businesses on children's rights in the workplace and beyond. Based on extensive consultations with business and civil society stakeholders from all geographic regions the principles will enable the private sector to maximize positive impacts on children's lives by respecting and supporting their rights. The CRBP will be released in November 2011.

Stakeholder participation in the consultation process is strongly encouraged. Please visit (http://www.business-humanrights.org/) for more information and to participate.