Resource Center

Companies can affect children’s rights in all stages of their value chains. Children hold various roles in relation to business including as consumers of products (downstream), as beneficiaries of employee programs (midstream), as members of local communities around business operations, and as workers in value chains (mid- or upstream). Despite these multiple intersections between business and children, companies rarely address children’s rights specifically beyond their general commitments to human rights. Typically, children’s rights are exclusively featured in standard contractual clauses for suppliers and in sporadic philanthropic activities. This study was conducted to assess the role that children’s rights currently play for businesses in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The findings provide insights into how to support businesses to engage more specifically with children’s rights.