MATTIAS FORSBERG

Manager, Child Rights and Business, Save the Children Sweden, Stockholm

Résumé

La responsabilité sociale des entreprises commence à ne plus être uniquement perçue comme un concept philanthropique, s’introduisant à la salle du Conseil, car un plus haut niveau de recherche et de prise de conscience est requis par les entreprises elles-mêmes concernant l’impact de leurs activités commerciales. Save the Children a débuté un dialogue avec UN Global Compact et UNICEF afin de traiter ces problématiques et le manque de cadre global relatif à la manière d’aborder le rôle du secteur privé envers les droits de l’enfant. Afin d’obtenir des résultats probants et de trouver des moyens durables pour de l’amélioration de la vie des enfants, il est primordial de s’adresser à tous les acteurs de la société : les orga- nismes publics, la société civile et en particulier le secteur privé. Les outils, les directives et le dialogue ouvert avec les acteurs intéressés du secteur privé sont nécessaires. Le secteur privé en coopération avec d’autres acteurs œuvrant pour les droits de l’enfant peuvent, grâce à leur sphère d’influence apporter du changement, même influencer un gouvernement et faire ainsi une énorme différence dans la vie des enfants. L’auteur présente Children’s Rights and

Business Principles ainsi que d’autres bonnes pratiques.

Zusammenfassung

Die gesellschaftliche Verantwortung der Unternehmen wird nicht mehr ausschliesslich als philanthropisches Konzept wahrgenommen und findet Eintritt in den Ratssaal. Allerdings braucht es von den Unternehmen ein höheres Niveau bezüglich Recherche und Bewuss- twerdung über die Auswirkungen ihrer Handelstätigkeiten. Save the Children ist mit UN Global

Compact und UNICEF in einen Dialog getreten, um diese Probleme sowie der Mangel eines

globalen Rahmens zu der Rolle des Privatsektors gegenüber den Kinderrechten anzugehen. Um überzeugende Ergebnisse zu erzielen und dauerhafte Mittel zu finden im Hinblick auf die Verbesserung des Lebens der Kinder, ist es entscheidend, sich an alle Akteure der Gesellschaft zu wenden: die öffentlichen Stellen, die Zivilgesellschaft und insbesondere der Privatsektor. Die Hilfsmittel, Richtlinien und der offene Dialog mit interessierten Akteuren des Privatsektors, zum Erhalt ihrer Unterstützung, sind notwendig. Der Privatsektor kann in Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Akteuren, die sich für die Kinderrechte einsetzen, dank seinem Wirkungsbereich Veränderungen herbeiführen und sogar die Regierung beeinflussen und damit einen wichtigen Unterschied im Leben der Kinder machen. Der Autor stellt Children’s Rights and Business

Resumen

La responsabilidad social corporativa comienza a ser percibida no únicamente como un concepto filantrópico, introduciéndose en la administración del Consejo. Sin embargo, las mismas empresas solicitan un más alto nivel de investigación y toma de conciencia, en lo concerniente al impacto de sus actividades comerciales. Save the Children comenzó un diálogo con UN Global Compact y UNICEF, con el fin de dirigir estas problemáticas así como la falta de un marco global relativo a la manera de abordar el papel del sector privado hacia los derechos del niño. Con el fin de obtener resultados convincentes y de encontrar medio duraderos para mejorar la vida de los niños, es primordial interpelar a todos los actores de la sociedad: los organismos públicos, la sociedad civil y en particular el sector privado. Son necesarios las herramientas, las directivas y el diálogo abierto con los actores interesados del sector privado, obteniendo al mismo tiempo su apoyo. El sector privado en cooperación con otros protagonistas que trabajan para los derechos del niño pueden, gracias a su esfera de influencia aportar un cambio, inclusive influenciar un gobierno y hacer así una enorme diferencia en la vida de los niños. El autor presenta Children’s Rights and Business Principles así como otras buenas prácticas.

Summary

Corporate Social Responsibility is starting to move from philanthropy into the board rooms but a higher level of research and awareness is required on the impact of business activities by corporations themselves. Save the Children entered into a dialogue with UN Global Compact and UNICEF to address this issue and the lack of a comprehensive framework for how to approach the role of the private sector for children’s rights. To achieve results and find sustai- nable ways to improve the lives of children, it is important to address all actors in society: public actors, civil society and not least the private sector. Tools, guidelines and direct dialogue with and support to interested actors in the private sector are needed. The private sector together with other actors working on child rights can make changes within their sphere of influence as well as influence governments and thus make an enormous difference in the lives of children. The author presents Children’s Rights and Business Principles and related good practices.

Corporate Social Responsibility is today high on the agenda. Internationally, it is a topic widely discussed among international organizations, NGOs, governments and individuals. Most importantly, CSR is increasingly becoming an important topic for businesses. As future employees, customers and business partners, the child perspective is important for the sus- tainability of any long-term future plans. CSR is finally starting to move from philanthropy into the board rooms.

What place children’s rights take in the CSR agenda has varied greatly. Child labour has been an obvious point of departure, where many businesses have started incorporating child- ren’s rights into their agenda. Sometimes this has been combined with supporting projects for children carried out by NGOs like Save the Children or others. This is certainly a start and much has been done, but looking at the issues more broadly, it becomes evident that children are affected in many ways, directly and indirectly, by the activities of the private sector, both positively and negatively. Also, working on child rights has become more complicated with globalisation where responsibilities and accountability does not automatically and obviously belong to one actor. Hence, a higher level of research and awareness is required on the impact of business activities by corporations themselves.

A few years ago, my General Secretary Mrs. Elisabeth Dahlin entered into a dialogue with UN Global Compact and UNICEF to address this issue and the lack of a comprehensive framework for how to approach the role of the private sector for children’s rights. All agreed that although there are numerous initiatives, standards and principles in place, there was a need for comprehensive set of principles to guide companies on the full range of actions they can take in the workplace, marketplace and community to respect and support children’s rights.

So why does a child rights organization embark on a process to develop child rights principles for the corporate sector? First and foremost we want to achieve results and find sustainable ways to improve the lives of children. For this, it is important to address all actors in society – public actors, civil society and not least the private sector. Engaging in a result- oriented way with all these actors requires not only answering the question why, but also how. Thus, forwarding the Children’s Rights and Business Principles requires not only advocacy, awareness raising and lobbying, but also tools, guidelines and direct dialogue with and support to interested actors in the private sector.

As organizations – both Save the Children and UNICEF has been working in the child rights field for many years. Save the Children started already in 1919 and is today present in more than 120 countries with tens of thousands of staff reaching some 125 million children. To continue promoting children’s rights, we have to put the best interest of the child on top of the agenda for all decision makers. Governments and the UN of course have an influence. They are bound by the Convention of the Rights of the Child to do their outmost.

But there are other key actors that can affect substantial and long-lasting change in the lives of children. If you look at the 150 largest economies in the world – almost 60% of them are corporations. It is clear that the private sector together with other actors working on child

rights can make changes within their sphere of infl uence as well as infl uence governments and thus make an enormous difference in the lives of children.

Save the Children has been collaborating for almost 20 years with businesses on child rights. Best known is our groundbreaking partnership with IKEA, the Swedish furniture chain. These partnerships have taught us that companies sometimes have more possibilities to promote change than governments do. And that they in their own right can promote the agenda and do it quickly. We learn from companies. Business pushes us in the NGO-world to be innovative and more result-orientated. Results can be achieved not only through watch-dog activities, but also through positive and constructive engagement.

The Children’s Rights and Business Principles is not about fundraising, and not about initiating new legislation. It is about joining forces with all actors in society to unite and work to enforce change for children. There is a clear rationale:

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights clearly calls on all actors of society to engage in issues promoting child rights. The Convention on the Right of the Child defi nitely sees a role for governments but for other key actors too. The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights have created a solid platform in defi ning the roles of government and other actors. Other standards such as the International labour standards are of course a point of departure as well. The fi rst principle is the over-arching principle. It calls upon all actors to meet their responsibilities to respect children’s rights and to commit to supporting the human rights of children. It is about establishing an accessible grievance channel within the company to handle this. Policy commitment, due diligence and remediation. The following 9 principles address the infl uence of businesses on children’s rights broadly, divided into 3 parts: the workplace, the market and the community. This shows the holistic approach and is crucial for making the

issues relevant for all businesses. 178

Businesses often tell us that they want to promote child rights, that they meet challenges, and that they want to not only avoid clear breaches of children’s rights, but that they also want to contribute positively. Demands are increasing from shareholders, Board of directors, CEOs, and also increasingly from employees to engage in social issues. However, they often ask what can be done, how things can be done, and if we can help them do it. Children’s rights are high on today’s CSR- agenda and this unique set of Children’s Rights and Business Principles is a vital framework for companies moving forward in their ambition to improve and affect positive change in the lives of children all over the world. Our ambition with this initiative has been to develop a hands-on tool that can really support big or small companies in promoting child rights within their sphere of influence.

UNICEF has developed a fantastic handbook on how corporates can work with the principles. Save the Children are ready to assist companies in their work in developing their Children’s rights efforts. For this, we have for example teamed up with Accenture to develop hands-on implementation-tools that we are currently testing with companies. With other tools and guidelines there is a battery of concrete tools covering many aspects of business activities ready to be used, and more are being developed. Our goals at Save the Children are to have the principles is not to create more work for companies, but rather to integrate the Principles into already existing reporting tools such as UN Global Compact, GRI, ISO etc. We want to promote awareness among key actors in the private sector such as investors, branch organizations, business networks etc., work with individual companies on implementing child rights in their core business so as to generate good examples, and to build our own capacity to be a relevant partner for businesses on child rights in their operations. However, ownership by the private

Businesses often tell us that they want to promote child rights, that they meet challenges, and that they want to not only avoid clear breaches of children’s rights, but that they also want to contribute positively. Demands are increasing from shareholders, Board of directors, CEOs, and also increasingly from employees to engage in social issues. However, they often ask what can be done, how things can be done, and if we can help them do it. Children’s rights are high on today’s CSR-agenda and this unique set of Children’s Rights and Business Principles is a vital framework for companies moving forward in their ambition to improve and affect positive change in the lives of children all over the world. Our ambition with this initiative has been to develop a hands-on tool that can really support big or small companies in promoting child rights within their sphere of influence.

UNICEF has developed a fantastic handbook on how corporates can work with the principles. Save the Children are ready to assist companies in their work in developing their Children’s rights efforts. For this, we have for example teamed up with Accenture to develop hands-on implementation-tools that we are currently testing with companies. With other tools and guidelines there is a battery of concrete tools covering many aspects of business activities ready to be used, and more are being developed. Our goals at Save the Children are to have the principles is not to create more work for companies, but rather to integrate the Principles into already existing reporting tools such as UN Global Compact, GRI, ISO etc. We want to promote awareness among key actors in the private sector such as investors, branch organiza- tions, business networks etc., work with individual companies on implementing child rights in their core business so as to generate good examples, and to build our own capacity to be a relevant partner for businesses on child rights in their operations. However, ownership by the private sector is still central in all of this work, and we aspire to create a genuine partnership between our sector and the private sector.

The process of drafting and finalizing the Children’s Rights and Business Principles was inclusive. We made consultations in 11 countries, involving 600 representatives from business, governments and civil society over nearly 2 years. Contributions were made on-line through an excellent partnership with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centres Child-rights portal. 2,000 children from 9 different countries, mainly in the developing world, was consulted – child participation being key in this process. A young person in Peru said during these consultations:

Do not take advantage of us. We ask you to be responsible.

Do not support us because you feel pity for us. Instead – support us because we deserve it. We purchase your products and services. But we ask you to invest in our development.

RELEVANCE OF LABELS AND CERTIFICATIONS WITH