Children’s rights are increasingly being recognised as an area of importance not only in the context of corporate business but in the business of government. Governments own and run their own companies and are big champions of private businesses in the global economy. They have valuable contracts with companies for works, supplies and services and invest public funds in corporate stocks and bonds. By developing effective procedures to guide their own conduct, governments can make a real difference to how the world’s young are affected by a range of business activities.
The subject is one that demands particular attention due to the nature of children’s relationships to business and governments, according to UNICEF corporate social responsibility specialist Patrick Geary. “Children are interacting with businesses more than ever before, whether they’re consumers of goods and services, workers in factories or fields, members of communities where businesses operate, or family members of employees. But, in the context of governments, children can’t vote and don’t have a right to participate in the political process so if a government is conducting business and isn’t respecting their rights there isn’t much for them to do about it,” he says.
The level of action currently being taken by governments varies from country to country, but some have processes in place that may be used as inspiration for others looking to improve their conduct on child rights.
The US, for example, maintains a list of goods produced by indentured or forced child labour, which is used by both government and businesses to evaluate procurement decisions. Under government procurement regulations, federal contractors who supply products on the list must certify that they have made a good faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured child labour was used to produce the items supplied.
Eric Biel, associate deputy undersecretary for international affairs at the US Department of Labor, says: “It is critical for governments to be aware of the impacts of our purchasing decisions on human rights in global supply chains – including, but not limited to, child labour and other forms of labour abuse – and to put in place measures that reduce the chance our funds could be used to support such abuses.
“The Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs is actively engaged with companies that source garments from Bangladesh, electronics from Malaysia, and cocoa from West Africa – to name just three sectors – in order to encourage greater responsibility for protecting workers’ rights in global supply chains. By the same token, as one of the largest purchasers of goods and services in the world, the US government has its own responsibility to address these issues in our own procurement practices.”
Alongside the labour list, the US has a number of initiatives in place relevant to children’s rights and business, including training for federal contracting officers on people trafficking. It is currently in the process of developing a National Action Plan of Responsible Business Conduct, within which it is “considering additional measures to stem human rights abuses in federal supply chains”.
Other government policies worthy of note include Finland’s National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (pdf), which announced a requirement for state-owned enterprises to take human rights into account in their global operations. Canada, meanwhile, has made financial support for overseas activities by extractives companies contingent on human rights performance.
Norway offers an example of investment done well – its sovereign wealth fund (the biggest in the world) has an extensive screening criteria relating to human rights, and children’s rights is one of the specific areas covered by this. For Norway’s government, the approach isn’t only about meeting certain ethical standards; it also makes good business sense. “Ethical guidelines for the management of the Government Pension Fund Global have been in place since 2004,” explains state secretary Jørgen Næsje. “The Ministry of Finance considers sound financial return over time to be conditional upon sustainable economic, environmental and social development, as well as well-functioning, legitimate and efficient markets.”
An independent Council of Ethics, set up by the Ministry of Finance, evaluates whether the fund’s investment in a company is consistent with its ethical guidelines, and the final decision lies with a division of Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the fund. The bank has a document outlining its expectations (pdf) for companies on children’s rights.
According to Line Aaltvedt, advisor for communications and external relations at NBIM, the fund uses its screening criteria not only to exclude organisations but to work for improvements. “We have been assessing selected companies with activities or supply chains in sectors with a high risk of child labour since 2008,” she says. “We use our findings as a basis for dialogue with companies to try to improve their management of child labour. We also seek industry-wide initiatives to combat the worst forms of child labour, particularly in the cocoa, mining, steel and apparel retail industries.”
As the issue of children’s rights gains momentum within the politics of business, it is likely that more governments will seek improvements in their own practices. Many governments are still finding their way on the issue, but some help is provided in the form of two recent publications from UNICEF: Obligations and Actions on Children’s Rights (pdf) and Business and Children’s Rights and Business Explained (pdf).
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