Children's Rights and Private Corporations

CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATORY
RIGHTS
IN PRIVATE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
1Wednesday, 12 June, 13
This presentation is highly explorative and theoretical. This work represents some very new
ideas and lacks any empirical evidence. As such, I hope that my work can contribute to an
expanding research paradigm that will inform practice in the greater economic world.
The reason why i decided to focus on this area, is based on three main assumptions.

ASSUMPTIONS
•the emerging digitally-facilitated knowledge economy
(Hargreaves, 2003)
•a new set of technical skills and abilities to succeed
(Kellner, 2003)
•the overly simplistic perspective of children by private
corporations (Petten, 2012)
As a society, we are rapidly coming into a digitally-facilitated knowledge economy.
The knowledge economy is one in which economic growth and prosperity is increasingly
inﬂuenced by the creation of new knowledge through multiple literacies, including reading,
ﬁlm making, coding and software design.
Through our education system, children will need a new set of technical skills and abilities in
order to succeed in this new economy--not only to work and produce economic value, but
even to participate politically, and have a rich and full social life. (I should also mention: that
soft social skills, like empathy are important in this new society. The development of
Facebook and other social networking skills are challenging the old ways in which we
conceive of social relationships.)
My last assumption is that private corporations have an overly simplistic perspective of
childhood--that they don’t consider children’s agency and ability to understand and
participate in economic activity and the wider “adult” world.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
•United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child
•the ‘new’ sociology of childhood
•critical theory of society
increase children’s authentic participation in the
business strategies and operations of private
corporations
These three frameworks give me the tools and rationale to advocate to increase children’s
authentic participation in the business strategies and operations of private corporations.
Let’s look at each one individually.

UNCRC ARTICLES
Article 12: “the child who is capable of forming his or her own views [has]
the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child.”
Article 17:“shall ensure that the child has access to information and
material,” through mass media that is of,“social and cultural beneﬁt to the
child,” and in accordance with article 29 that articulates the child’s right to an
appropriate education in,“preparation of the child for responsible life in a
free society.”
Article 28, section 3:“... contributing to the elimination of ignorance and
illiteracy throughout the world and facilitating access to scientiﬁc and
technical knowledge and modern teaching methods.”
my interpretationUNCRC, 1989
on Participatory Rights
First, with these articles of the UNCRC and the emerging digitally-facilitated education system, the importance of realizing children’s
participatory rights are paramount to the full realization of the UNCRC in today’s global economy. Digital technologies such as the
Internet, personal computers, and mobile phones allow, “access to information and material (17). These digital technologies are also,
“facilitating access to scientific and technical knowledge,” (28) and are increasingly becoming a, “modern teaching method” (28).
Furthermore, these technologies allow for the expression, whether through the use of social media, blogging, or video conferencing, on,
“all matters affecting the child” (12).

SOCIOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD
The ‘new’ sociology of childhood views children as social
actors who are capable of making sense of and
participating in society. (Matthews, 2007)

CRITICALTHEORY
A critical theory framework that allows for,“more inclusive
positions and to connect education directly to
democratization and the changing of social relations in the
direction of equality and social justice” (Kellner, 2003, p. 13)
Kellner also took into account the emerging capitalistic, knowledge society and the power
dynamics within our education system. His theory allows for progressive social change within
this system.

UNCRC
Participatory
Rights
‘new’ sociology
of childhood
critical theory
of society
increase children’s authentic participation in the business
strategies and operations of private corporations
PUTTING ITTOGETHER
but ﬁrst...
my
assumptions
Putting all these conceptual frameworks together, I propose to increase children’s authentic
participation in the business strategies and operations of private corporations.
But ﬁrst, let’s consider the the historical and current relationships between rights and private
corporations....

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RIGHTS AND
PRIVATE CORPORATIONS
ParticipatoryRights
Exploitation
High
Children’sParticipation
Child Labour in sweatshops
Child prostitutionAdvertising and Marketing
educational technology
child work in family business
entrepreneurial activities
youth employment
Protective Rights
children as designers
children as decision-makers
Television
research with children
traditional research on children
Quadrant 2.2
Quadrant 1.1Quadrant 2.1
Quadrant 1.2
traditional behavioural
research on children
Low
HighLow
children as customers
and clients
This quadrant diagram represents the relationship between different levels of children’s
participation and exploitation, and how protective and participatory rights inﬂuence private
economic activity.
In this case, I use the word, “participation” to represent children’s agency in society whom are
able to fully express and convey their own views, opinions and perspectives.

Exploitation
High
Child prostitution
youth employment
children as decision-
makers
Quadrant 2.2
Quadrant 1.2
Low
HighLow
progress on protective rights
for states:
•UNCRC Article
•int’l and nat’l legal
frameworks
for private business:
•UN and UNICEF CSR
•UN Global Compact
•Children’s Rights and
Business Principles
Efforts to reduce harmful exploitation
and clients
I would argue that we’ve been pretty good at reducing extreme forms of exploitation by
businesses. Several articles in the UNCRC mention the need to reduce harmful exploitation.
As a consequence of the international rights movement, several international and national
legal frameworks have been constructed to protect children from harmful work, like extreme
forms of child labour and prostitution. However, most of these frameworks articulate state
obligations--not business obligations.
Considering the increasing wealth, power, and inﬂuence of private corporations, there has
been a recent international movement to hold private corporations accountable to children’s
rights.
For example, the UN and UNICEF have recently released initiatives to engage private
corporations to respect and promote children’s rights in their business strategies and
operations.
The UN Global Compact, a UN department that is dedicated to working with private
businesses to promote rights, launched an initiative called, Children’s Rights and Business
Principles. Their ﬂagship document, outlines 12 guidelines for private corporations to respect
and promote children’s rights.
However, there is a relatively no mention of participatory rights.

Quadrant 2.2 Quadrant 1.2
Exploitation
High
youth employmentchildren as designers
Television
Low
HighLow
progress on
participatory rights
Children’s efforts for economic rights
•The Christian Workers’
Movement in Peru in 1979
child labour is seen as a necessary evil, and it is
better to recognize children’s active
participation and advocacy in creating safer
working conditions
Two sets of arguments:
children’s work can contribute to their personal
development and prepare them to play a
responsible and meaningful role in their societies
Quadrant 2.2 Quadrant 1.2
and clients
Where can we look for movements in recognizing children’s participatory rights?
To illustrate the high exploitation quadrants, several movements in Latin America have been
identiﬁed where children stood up for their rights as workers.
One such children’s movement, called, The Christian Workers’ Movement was founded in
Peru in 1979 in order to recognize children’s economic rights and give them a new legal
situation in order to improve their working conditions. Their slogan is: “Yes to work, no to
exploitation”.
Their argument is that child labour is inevitable in the existing capitalist system and the
poverty resulting from it (Berge, 2007). Therefore, child labour is seen as a necessary evil,
and it is better to recognize children’s active participation and advocacy in creating safer
working conditions.
Another argument, articulated by Liebel (2002), is that children’s work can contribute to their
personal development and prepare them to play a responsible and meaningful role in their
societies.
These positions have lead to an active debate: whether children should be able to work
considering our current economic systems.

DISCUSSION
As child rights advocates, do we support children’s right to
work, or do we protect them so that they can focus on
their education and development?
If child labour is inevitable, should we recognize children as workers and give them the same
rights to safe working conditions? Or, should we continue working towards a fair and
equitable society where children don’t have to work because their parents and caregivers are
able to afford a decent lifestyle and education for their children?

Exploitation
High
youth employment
Television
Quadrant 2.2
Quadrant 1.2
Low
HighLow
Children’s Advertising and Marketing
children’s perceptions of
television and commercials
•capable of making
distinctions
•able to articulate their
perception
children’s consumer rights
•children influencing
parental purchasing
behaviours
•the subsequent effect on
marketplaces
and clients
Let’s consider the relationship between children’s rights and private corporations in a North
American context. Relative to the developing world, there are low levels of exploitation in this
context. However, we still have lots of work to do in terms of fully realizing the UNCRC and
all the rights of the child--namely, participatory rights.
Let’s take a look at this lower left quadrant, where there is low exploitation and low levels of
children’s voice.
One economic activity that is controlled by private corporations is advertising and marketing.
(remember the last time you were at a GAP Kids Store, have you noticed the height of the
clothing displays? Or, children’s television commercials: are they geared towards children or
adults? How can they be exploitative?)
Some studies have taken a look at children’s perceptions of advertising and marketing and
found that children are capable of making distinctions between television shows and
commercials. Another study, that based its argument on children’s consumer rights, found
that children had considerable influence on their parents purchasing behaviours, which
subsequently influenced economic markets (Nicholls and Cullen, 2004). Additionally, children
sometimes felt exploited by advertising and marketing which had a negative effect on the
perception of the company.
My point here is that children are aware of the economic world around them and continually
make distinctions and judgements. It is time for private corporations to realize this and
incorporate children’s authentic participation in their business strategies and operations.

Quadrant 2.2
Quadrant 1.2
Realizing the full rights of children
UN’s efforts to
engage private
corporations
importance of
Corporate Social
Responsibility
literature on the
knowledge society
and ed. tech.
Examples:
•research with children (Matthews, 2007)
•children has design partners (Druin, 2003, 2002)
•children as urban planners (Knowles-Yánez, 2005)
Finally, we have, what i argue is the optimal area for children’s participation in economic
activity, where exploitation is low and participation is high. Considering the recent
movements by the UN to engage with private corporations, the increasing importance of
corporate social responsibility, and the literature on the emerging knowledge society,
children have a unique opportunity to realize their participatory rights in private economic
activity.
One recent inspirational trend is in the academic research ﬁeld. The involvement of children
in the design and development of research and the acknowledgement of their social agency is
growing rapidly (Matthews, 2007).
Another example is working with children as design partners in the development of
educational technologies. Allison Druin from the University of Maryland is leading some
interesting work that is paving the way to include children as full participants in the design of
educational technologies that will ultimately be used to support their own education. For
example, she is working with children to design new digital libraries for children--children
provide the knowledge on how to best organize data to make it more accessible. Additionally,
she uses some innovative approaches to engaging children in this work.
The last example, is involving children in local land use planning in cities. For example,
UNICEF launched an initiative called Child Friendly Cities which seeks to revamp
governmental structures of cities to accommodate for the right’s of the child.
In another study, children reported that they preferred land use variety and places associated
with activity and social interaction (Talen and Coffindaffer, 1999).
Often, urban planning is inﬂuenced by the decisions and initiatives of private corporations
and are based on an economic model rather than social networks (Chawla, 2006).

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RIGHTS AND
PRIVATE CORPORATIONS
ParticipatoryRights
Exploitation
High
youth employment
Protective Rights
Television
Quadrant 2.2
Quadrant 1.2
Low
HighLow
and clients

Children's Rights and Private Corporations

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