BUSINESS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND CHILDREN: THE DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL AGENDA

Abstract

The consideration of the role of the private business sector with regards to the fulfilment of children’s rights is relatively recent. International attention on the effects of business activities have on children has been fragmented until now, focussing on specific sectors, mainly child labour and economic exploitation. Recent international developments, addressed both to states and business enterprises, propose a more comprehensive approach. This article focuses on two of them: the UNICEF-Global Compact and Save the Children Children’s Rights and Business Principles (CRB Principles), launched in May 2012, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 16 on state obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, published in April 2013.  Both documents represent an important step in the consolidation of an international agenda for the protection of the rights of the child that takes into account the different challenges faced by children in the current economic system.