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beyond compliance. Respect for human rights including children's rights is at the heart of the operations. Yet this approach has impact on the bottom line and they start having problems as they do not stay competitive towards other players who break the rules and maximize profits.
So how do you tackle this? And then I have not even discussed the complexity of the supply chain? How can you engage your suppliers and help them to realize their responsibilities? And there is still one more dilemma that remains unsolved. On one hand governments have developed regulations in a way they believe what acceptable ethical behavior is all about. What would your response be to a 13 year old boy who comes to your factory asking for work? He has 2 brothers and one sister and his mother is a widow. The family has no protection by the government, no social security, no basic living standard. The only option for the mother is her son to work to survive. What would you do?
And what about the role of governments and NGO's, how can we connect and develop action plans incorporating the development of children into long term partnerships? Are we not forgetting sometimes that respecting children's rights is a shared responsibility?
Any final comments to this interview?
Luckily I believe and I am an optimist, every step forward is important. The bottom line is that without leadership commitment change will not happen. Actions speak louder than words. The fact remains that children's rights continue to be inadequately protected in the world. It is also clear that two firms are not alike. Legal compliance is the starting point for all but from there each company has to make its own conscious decision how to start to address the issues relating to the principles? Companies need to ask: What is our sphere of influence? Where do we need to rethink our business model?
Children's are everyone's business. The leaders, inventors, decision-makers and innovators of tomorrow are the children of today. Respecting and supporting children's rights is preserving the best future of society. As Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said: "Human rights are inscribed in the hearts of people; they were there long before lawmakers drafted their first proclamation."
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