Principle 8 | Save the Children CSR

All business should respect and support children’s rights in security arrangements.

Businesses employ private security staff to guard their premises, their factories, their housing and their employees. This practice is ubiquitous in fragile conflict states and also where extraction and transportation industries are present. Deng, age 15, is a former child soldier in South Sudan. The intensity of the conflict there is further complicated by the oil industry.

Photo:

Colin Crowley/Save the Children

The corporate responsibility to respect includes:

a. Respecting children’s rights in security arrangements

i. When making and implementing security arrangements, whether with public or private security service providers, conduct human rights due diligence with particular attention to any adverse impact on the rights of children.

ii. Ensure that respect for the rights of children is explicitly addressed in the business’s security contracts.

iii. Do not recruit or use children in security arrangements either directly orthrough private or public security service providers.

The corporate commitment to support includes:

b. Supporting children’s rights in security arrangements

All business is encouraged to apply evolving best practices in the management of security services provided by private contractors or public security forces.

In 2010, the private security services’ worldwide market was valued at $85 billion USD.
Advance your understanding of Principle 8.