Seen and Heard? Children's Participation Rights and Corporate Responsibility

Kelly Maureen O'Neill

doi:10.22215/cjcr.v1i1.27

Abstract

Scholars in the fields of sociology, child development and human rights have focused on conceptualizations of children as well as the shift from viewing children as mere adjuncts to adults to distinct rights-holders. Researchers in the fields of business and management studies explore the interplay of business responsibility and society in general. What remains relatively unexplored in either literature is the nexus of business and the human rights of children. In particular, children’s participation rights remain largely ignored. People living with poverty at any age often cite a lack of agency and participation as one of the more onerous aspects of deprivation. The paper suggests that when policies and programs for which the poor are targeted do not include their meaningful participation, the same loss of control and dignity occurs once more. This holds as true for corporate social responsibility initiatives as any other poverty alleviation effort. The research assumes it is the role of States and NGOs to foster a climate of participation that avoids objectifying children and instead views them as rights-holders. The research questions how well the participation rights of children are accounted for in business in view of the fact that the CRC is the world's most widely ratified human rights instrument. The paper highlights the potential offered by recent efforts from the Committee on the Rights of the Child through General Comment 16 as well as the new Children's Rights and Business Principles to meaningfully engage children. It concludes, however, with a call to move from well-intentioned but ad hoc measures to mainstreaming children's participation rights in all interactions within the realm of business, particularly in this early stage when getting rights right is critical.

Highlights

What we want is a mutual benefit; as far as business wants to make money, we want development, we want you to be aware of our humanity, do not pollute our environment, do not exploit us, listen to us, accept our opinion, we want an equal treatment.(Young Peruvian)iiThe UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) offers a critical framework against which to review how well States give effect to the rights of their youngest citizens; a new imperative, has emerged that shifts the spotlight from governments alone having responsibility to fulfill human rights obligations
Part III contextualizes the debate over business and human rights by briefly reviewing contemporary corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the very recent incursion of children’s rights into the field
As legal scholar Joel Bakan (2011, p.12) avers, despite earlier modern state reforms emanating from the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, the last thirty years have seen an erosion of government constraint over corporate behavior that has left children unprotected and “openly exposed to corporate predation and harm.”vi Whether we look at the marketing of unhealthy food to children, workplaces that do not offer paid maternity leave, toy manufacturers that use dangerous components, the harassment of local children by private security firms hired by mining companies, the range of the potentially deleterious impacts of business on children is broader than commonly understood

Summary

Introduction

What we want is a mutual benefit; as far as business wants to make money, we want development, we want you to be aware of our humanity, do not pollute our environment, do not exploit us, listen to us, accept our opinion, we want an equal treatment. Part III contextualizes the debate over business and human rights by briefly reviewing contemporary corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the very recent incursion of children’s rights into the field. Part IV focuses squarely on the nexus of business and children’s rights with special attention given to participation. It looks at three pivotal and recent documents: the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011), the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (2012); and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No 16 (2013) on State Obligations regarding the impact of business on children’s rights

Part I: Human Rights and Business: A Conversation Begins

PART III: Business Responsibility and Human Rights

CONCLUSION

Florence