2023 CHILD-FRIENDLY BUSINESS FORUM
- Taiwan’s Good Neighbor will co-organize the “2023 Child-Friendly Business Forum” with Ming Chuan University’s Financial Technology Applications and the Consumers’ Foundation, Chinese Taipeion on November 17, 2023.
- A child-friendly company refers to one that recognizes children as important stakeholders, understands that companies are responsible for respecting and supporting children’s rights, follows the United Nations’ “Children’s Rights and Business Principles”, and integrates children’s rights into the company’s core business strategies to ensure business interests while strengthening the sustainable operation of the enterprise. Every company, even if it does not produce children-related products or provide related services, should pay attention to children’s rights. Enterprises’ responsibility for children’s rights should not be limited to the elimination of child labor; in the process of children’s growth, children need special care and guidance from adults. Children’s caregivers, the products and services they use, the environment in which they grow and play, and future job opportunities are all closely related to the company’s production and operational activities.
- As the concept of sustainable development is taken seriously internationally, more and more domestic companies are incorporating information disclosure on sustainable development goals (SDGs) into corporate sustainability reports (Environment, Social and Governance Report, ESG Report). )middle. Today’s children are the masters of tomorrow’s society, so children’s rights should be at the core of corporate sustainable development goals. In fact, as explained by UNICEF, the implementation of sustainable development goals is closely related to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. If children’s rights are not protected, it will hinder the development of society in the future. In addition to eliminating the negative impact on children, including direct or indirect impacts on children in the supply chain, value chain, advertising, product design and employees, companies should also play an important role in actively promoting children’s rights. For example, in Taiwan, which has the lowest fertility rate in the world, companies have the responsibility to actively provide an environment for children to grow and develop healthily, as well as friendly policies and measures for parents to give birth and raise their children with peace of mind.
- The Taiwan Good Neighbor Association has begun conducting a survey of Taiwan’s child-friendly companies in 2022. Based on the children’s rights and business principles and the indicators and scoring structure of the “Investor Tool for Incorporating Children’s Rights into ESG Assessment”, it will conduct a survey on the social performance of China’s listed companies in 2020. Corporate Responsibility Report Survey. The survey found that in terms of children’s rights regulations, companies still pay less attention to children as an independent and important stakeholder group. Among 334 company samples, “children’s rights” were only mentioned 5 times, which shows that Chinese companies have little regard for children’s rights. There is still a lack of awareness.
- In order to enhance the business community’s understanding and awareness of children’s rights, especially how to integrate the concept of children’s rights into actual business operations, we hope to use experts and scholars’ introductions to companies and children’s rights responsibilities, as well as the results of Taiwan’s Good Neighbor Child-Friendly Enterprise Survey The sharing can stimulate participants’ interest in children’s rights issues, which in turn encourages companies to more actively care about and practice children’s rights, and integrate them into daily business and corporate culture.
