Whose Business is it Anyway: Children and Corporate Social Responsibility in the International Business Agenda

Abstract

Children's rights in business have become a controversial topic in the public arena where cases of child labour in the supply chain tend to dominate discussions. This review takes a wider perspective on children as producers, consumers, stakeholders and generally agents in, rather than passive recipients of, business processes. It eschews questions surrounding the ethics of the international business agenda as regards children in order to focus on the child's right to expression and to be heard. This, it is argued, is a much more neglected debate which, if better understood and more widely acted upon, would drive forward policy action as regards children's rights in business.