STOCKHOLM April 5th:

Data collected by Global Child Forum and the Boston Consulting Group shows that four out of ten companies lack guidelines to combat child labor and that business needs to do more to protect children and advance their rights.  The 10th Global Child Forum will bring together business and civic leaders to urge business to accelerate change around children’s rights.  

While the statistics indicate that there is room for improvement, many businesses are seeing this as an opportunity for them to break new ground in this area. The Forum will share these initiatives in delivering its vision of a sustainable world where children’s rights are respected and supported by all stakeholders. This year, the Forum will be held in the presence of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf, the Honorary Chairman of the Global Child Forum, and H.M. Queen Silvia. Among the speakers will be H.R.H Crown Princess Victoria, Mikael Damberg, Minister for Industry and Innovation, and Lise Kingo, CEO and Executive Director from the UN Global Compact.

Global Child Forum’s data reveals that nearly half of corporations (46 %) initiate charity and programmes related to children’s rights.  However, more than four out of ten companies (43 %) still lack guidelines to combat child labour and of those, very few companies hold their suppliers accountable in a meaningful way. And only nine percent of these companies have a board that is responsible for children’s rights related issues. Read the report here.

Lise Kingo, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, leads the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. She believes that it is important for business to integrate respect and support for children’s rights in their corporate strategies and operations. By doing so companies can strengthen their existing sustainability initiatives while generating benefits for their business.

“Children’s rights must be part of a company’s business strategy and not just as an add-on CSR program. It is the responsibility of companies to implement a child rights perspective in their sustainability efforts, and that management, employees and customers understand what role the company can play in promoting children’s rights,” says Lise Kingo.

ICT sector in the top among Nordic companies

The Nordic Benchmark Report on Children’s Rights and the Corporate Sector, conducted by Global Child Forum and the Boston Consulting Group, examined how well 300 of the Nordic regions’ largest companies address children’s rights in their operations. The study revealed that the region is not doing as well as expected, scoring 2.0 out of a possible score of 9, and below the global average of 2.9. However, among the nine sectors examined, the ICT sector stands out in addressing children’s rights issues, scoring 4 points out of a total of 9.

“Children are a priority stakeholder group for many companies but we find that, while many companies focus on human rights, they are not fully integrating and reporting on child-related risks and impacts,” says Fiona Rotberg, Research Director at Global Child Forum. “We do see encouraging signs of industry leadership, for example, the ICT sector’s innovative online bullying programs to address children’s rights.”

For further information, please contact:

Linda Lodding, Communications Manager, Global Child Forum
linda.lodding@globalchildforum.org, +46 72 387 0248

For media inquiries and press accreditation of the Global Child Forum at the Stockholm Royal Palace on April 11^th, please contact:

Sofie Segerborg, Edelman Deportivo:
Sofie.Segerborg@edelmandeportivo.com, +46 73 749 09 86

Please see here for Swedish version