Stakeholders from various communities on 01 February emphasized the need to educate and inform businesses about the measures they should put in place in their operations to end child labour practices.
They also emphasized the need to start a conversation about how to include children’s rights in business practices over the next 10 years.
They came up with the remarks while speaking at a national symposium commemorating a decade of Child Rights and Business Principles (CRBP), a voluntary framework for businesses to respect and support children’s rights.
The UN Global Compact, Unicef, and Save the Children developed the CRBP in 2012 as the first tool to clearly outline corporate responsibility to respect children’s rights in the workplace, marketplace, community, and environment.
The event, jointly organized by North South University and Unicef, in collaboration with UN Global Compact and Save the Children, was held at the Syndicate Hall of the university in Dhaka.
The symposium brought together significant stakeholders and duty bearers from Bangladesh’s business ecosystem to discuss and deliberate how the framework of Child Rights and Business Principles can improve key child rights indicators in the nation and mitigate the impact of businesses on children and their communities.
The CRBP provides guidelines for companies to minimize negative impacts on children and maximize the positive effects that their activities and business relationships may have on children and young people.
Central to addressing global challenges is putting children’s rights at the forefront of sustainability and responsible business conduct, said speakers.
Despite progress in the business world over the last decade in integrating children’s rights, there is still a long way to go, they pointed out.
