2018 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

Interpretation is provided into Spanish

Organized by UNICEF

Short description and session objectives:
This session will explore different methods of conducting human rights due diligence with consideration of children’s rights and voice, and the role of different stakeholders in making this happen including investors, governments, companies and UN agencies. The session will consider both challenges and solutions to the integration of child rights into business processes by engaging the audience in an interactive and participatory manner.  

Format:
Interactive discussion between main panel speakers and different interventions from the floor representing different perspectives and voices.


Background to the discussion:
The focus of the session is to emphasize the need for companies to take specific measures to understand and address their potential impacts on groups and communities that may be at heightened risk of vulnerability or marginalization. Children are often the most vulnerable population, requiring specific attention to guarantee respect for their human rights. It is possible that one business activity might not impact the rights of adults, but the same activity could adversely impact the rights of a child. Despite this, children have not been adequately considered by business. Companies’ consideration of their impact on child rights is often relegated to the issue of child labour or community investment, yet the impacts of business on children extend to such aspects as product design and advertising, the behaviour of staff towards children, and children’s rights in the supply chain, and the ways that companies operate in the wider community. Moreover, children are usually less well placed to advocate for their own interests and may be silenced within their households or communities. Unless companies make dedicated efforts to understand the risks they pose to child rights, and engage child rights advocates – children may be at risk of exclusion from companies’ human rights due diligence and stakeholder engagement processes.