Opinion

Global Child Forum underlines the 10 critical issues which will shape the children’s rights and business agenda for 2026.

As Global Child Forum’s Benchmark Manager, I have had the privilege of leading several of our annual benchmarks on children’s rights and corporate reporting. While it may be easier for me to open an Excel file, crunch numbers, and compare scores, many of the most interesting insights come from the hours spent reading sustainability reports and human rights policies. These lessons may be less data-driven, but they are just as meaningful.

Last week’s launch of Global Child Forum’s Benchmark 2025 offers a clear mirror: how companies are performing on children’s rights across governance, workplace, product responsibility, and community & environment. The results don’t just tell us where the bar is today—they show us where leadership must go next.

Discover how Orange integrates children’s rights into its business strategy, governance, and digital well-being initiatives.

With a 9.7/10 in our 2025 Benchmark, Telia shows how tech leadership and child protection can go hand in hand.

This year’s theme for International Day of the Girl, “The girl I am, the change I lead,” is both a celebration and a challenge: to recognize girls not just for the obstacles they face, but for the solutions they bring.

Douglas Lamont of Tony’s Chocolonely explains why ending child labour starts with purpose, long-term sourcing, and mission-locked governance.

Today is International Literacy Day, a reminder that literacy isn’t just an achievement—it’s a lifeline. Yet for too many children around the world, that lifeline is cut short by the grinding realities of child labor.

In this edition of The Exchange, Global Child Forum and UNICEF explore what sustainable investing really look like when viewed through the eyes of future generations.

To mark her first anniversary as Secretary General of the Global Child Forum, we sat down with Ekin Ergün Björstedt to reflect on the journey so far, the lessons learned and the path ahead.

As the back-to-school season begins, businesses must also refocus. Back to business means rebuilding with children in mind—protecting their rights and shaping a responsible future.

Renowned author Siddharth Kara speaks with Global Child Forum on child labour, corporate responsibility, and how business must act to protect children’s rights.

Evelyn Chumbow, Director at the Human Trafficking Legal Center, shares her story of survival and calls on business to confront forced labour in supply chains and protect vulnerable children.

Each year on World Environment Day, businesses take the opportunity to spotlight their climate commitments. But as we read through these glossy reports, one thing is almost always missing: children. Not metaphorically. Literally.

Orsola de Castro on how child labour in the fashion industry persists — and what brands must do to end it.

As we mark the International Day of Families on 15 May, it’s time to move beyond sentimental tributes and face a harder truth: families don’t exist in a vacuum.

This edition of The Exchange is a discussion on the impact of social media on young minds - do these platforms serve or exploit our youth?

With the Omnibus package reducing corporate accountability, we examine whether child rights are being left behind in the push to simplify sustainability reporting.

As Netflix’s 'Adolescence' examines the relationship between youth and social media, we consider what needs to improve from a corporate and child rights perspective.

In this edition of The Exchange, Global Child Forum and NatWest Group explore how companies can transition their value chain in an equitable way.

The CSDDD and CSRD help secure responsible business practices, but are they about to be undermined by the Omnibus Simplification package?

As U.S. companies dismantle Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, we examine the fallout for child rights and wider corporate responsibility.

Global Child Forum looks back on 2024, a year of legislative developments, sobering statistics, and stark realities for children’s rights.

Global Child Forum’s Ekin Björstedt reflects on 100 days as Secretary General, and looks ahead to the coming challenges and opportunities for business and child rights.

The LEGO Group’s Annette Stube and Diana Ringe Krogh on inspiring future generations, and supporting the development of Global Child Forum’s new toolkit.

Ellen Schliebitz of The Centre for Child Rights and Business discusses The Child Friendly Space (CFS), and assessing child rights risks in the supply chain.

World leaders have adopted the Pact for the Future, and now is the time for businesses to act, and deliver on its bold vision for the future.

As the world moves forward from the challenges posed by the pandemic, there is a renewed focus on building back better—and education is at the heart of this effort.

As digital transformation reshapes every facet of our lives, businesses must acknowledge a crucial reality: children and adolescents are not just future consumers—they are powerful influencers, stakeholders and innovative problem-solvers.

Global Child Forum calls on Olympic Sponsors and companies to help create a world where children can thrive.

Pia Gisgård and Kristin Wallander, from Swedbank Robur, on the importance of considering children’s rights as a business. 

Global Child Forum supports the U.S Surgeon General’s call for warning labels on social media platforms, but urges companies to take action.

As we mark World Day Against Child Labour, Global Child Forum urges nations to adopt policies tackling root causes and protecting children.

The International Day of Families 2024 focuses on families and climate change. Global Child Forum explores how business can take action to support.

Simon Weedy, Editor of Child in the City, on why a youth perspective is essential to the planning and development of urban living areas.

Global Child Forum’s Linda Ravin Lodding explains why in the era of CSR and sustainability, transparent reporting is more vital than ever.

As the world counts down to the Olympic Games in July, Global Child Forum calls for Paris 2024 to highlight and support children’s rights.

For World Health Day 2024, Global Child Forum examines how corporates can protect the health of children by prioritising the environment.

As today’s Future Food Forum gets underway, we share our insights on the food and beverage (F&B) industry’s approach to children’s rights.

Global Child Forum’s takeaways from the recent World Mobile Congress (MWC), which examined the impact of technology and telecommunications on today’s youth.

Eurochild’s Fabiola Bas Palomares on why increasing online child protection is a strategic choice that must be prioritised in the EU.

We examine child labour and responsible marketing within apparel, while considering how the industry performed in our latest benchmark.

Children are affected by all of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). To get these back on track, businesses must integrate children's rights into operations and communities.

This year’s UN International Youth Day highlights "green skills" – the competencies needed for young people to thrive in a sustainable economy - and businesses can offer key support.

With reporting requirements changing for EU companies, how will new ESRS standards impact children's rights and the wider sustainability landscape?

Every day, sixteen billion hours are spent on unpaid care work, representing a tenth of the world’s economic output. Along with paid care work, it’s also possibly one of the most overlooked sectors of the global economy.

In the wake of the recent devastating tragedy involving the sinking of a fishing boat off the coast of Greece, the world is once again confronted with one of the most heart-wrenching migrant incidents in recent memory. This catastrophic event serves as a poignant reminder of the urgent need for global solidarity and support for those forced to flee unimaginable hardships and distressing situations. What role can business play?

The call to end child labour has taken on increased urgency. What can businesses do to return child labourers to the classroom?

Influential businesses operating in the food and beverage sector have a critical role to play in helping eliminate hunger worldwide.

Every year on May 15th, the UN Day of Families highlights the crucial role families play in promoting overall health and happiness.

This year’s Earth Day theme is “Invest in our Planet” and, at Global Child Forum, we think the best way to do this is by investing in our children.

Businesses have a social responsibility to prioritise children's health and well-being - read about five ways they can do it!

Fashion brands must do all they can to ensure the health and well-being of children, from prohibiting child labor to installing responsible marketing practices.

Andreas Lundmark, MD & Partner at Boston Consulting Group on how companies need to improve on protecting children’s rights.

October 10th marks World Mental Health Day, an international day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. 2022’s campaign slogan is ‘Make mental health & well-being for all a global priority’, and at Global Child Forum we stand behind this message.

Watching the situation in the Ukraine unfold, we are alarmed for the citizens of Ukraine and especially the nation’s children who are fleeing – sometimes alone – to safe havens. The well-being of the country’s 7.5 million children is at stake. 

To mark the UN World Day Against Child Labour, and this year’s focus on the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour 2021, Global Child Forum’s Nina Vollmer looks more closely at what companies can do to help erase child labour from the map.  Child labour is a complex issue, but findings from our benchmark report reveal that closing the disclosure gap, can be one step in the right direction.

Johan Öberg of Boston Consulting Group shares his insights on what it takes to be a corporate leader on children’s rights.

In the final days before lockdown was introduced in the United Kingdom, CRIN hosted a panel discussion on surveillance and facial recognition at the Tate Modern where we addressed some of the risks they pose for children’s rights. Since then, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many people to move their lives almost exclusively online, as adults began working from home and schools resorted to online learning. Such big changes, however, raise basic questions.

As social distancing, quarantines and lockdowns have spread across the globe to slow the spread of coronavirus, they have imposed some of the greatest worldwide restrictions on public gatherings in living memory.

Of all the heartbreaking effects of COVID-19, its impact on young people could prove to be one of its most damaging legacies. In fact, the coronavirus crisis risks turning back the clock on years of progress made on children’s well-being and has put children’s rights under serious pressure across the globe. Linda Lodding, Head of Communications at Global Child Forum, takes a closer look at these pressure points.

As is the case in most crises, the most vulnerable in society will feel the worst impacts of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to school closures in nearly every country in the world, putting approximately 1.5 billion children and youth out of school.

To mark Global Child Forum’s ten-year anniversary, Désirée Abrahams asked both adults and children, what they considered the top 10 most important child right’s issues for business to consider in the next decade. In this blog post, she shares her reflections on the process and the survey’s findings

Johan Öberg, a core member of The Boston Consulting Group’s Principal Investors & Private Equity practice and a board member of Global Child Forum, comments on the results of the global benchmark study The State of Children’s Rights and Business: From Promise to Practice.

For a decade, Global Child Forum has been working to promote children’s rights – focusing primarily on the business sector to drive this change. To mark this anniversary, the organization is looking back at how the situation for children’s rights in business has transformed, and flagging new emerging issues that require urgent attention.

How the Swedish retail giant views children’s rights and business. As one of the largest fashion retailers in the world, the H&M Group has the capacity to drive economic and social change. Global Child Forum’s Head of Communication, Linda Lodding, spoke with Anna Gedda, H&M’s Head of Global Sustainability about how the Swedish retail giant addresses child rights issues in their vast supply chain – and what keeps Anna awake at night.

Professor Sonia Livingstone explores the transformative effects of the internet on both children and wider society.

HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, Founder of Missing Chapter Foundation, makes the case that, when businesses engage in intergenerational dialogue and children’s ideas are given serious attention, the result is better, more innovative solutions to sustainability issues.

The world has taken on the task to eliminate child labour. What are we doing wrong, and how can we finally make it a thing of the past?

The private sector has a key role to play in the empowerment of girls in society. Josefin Smeds identifies just some of the ways in which leading businesses are taking bold action to invest in girls.

CCR CSR, The Center for Child Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility, supports two girls from Myanmar getting back to school.

Deutsche Post DHL Group and SOS Children’s Villages have been partnering since 2011 in an initiative called GoTeach to help disadvantaged young people bridge the gap to the world of employment.

“Business impacts children. And therefore, we must let children impact business.” These words from H.M King Carl XVI Gustaf, during his speech at the recent Global Child Forum in April 2018, underline the importance of understanding children’s rights - especially recognizing the unique position investors and companies have to protect and advance these rights.

At the 10th Global Child Forum, Fauza and Kesia, two youth workers and members of the Indonesian Children's Advisory Committee shared their message to business on behalf of the world's working children.

The ICT sector has an enormous role to play in protecting children online and connecting them to a better future. Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA, the global body representing the interests of mobile operators worldwide, shares how his industry is contributing to children’s rights.

Clothing brands can learn from their peers who dare to be honest about detecting child labour in their supply chains by knowing the risks, limiting them, and taking action where necessary. As fashion designers take to the runway during New York Fashion Week, Sophie Koers, Associate Director of Fair Wear Foundation, reminds us that all that glitters is not necessarily gold.

“My husband and I came out to work for our children but we couldn’t take them with us. We don’t have the time to take care of them or to cook for them…so we left them with their grandparents,” said Liu Jing*, a factory worker whose three children live with their grandparents in a village in Hunan, China. She is part of the “247 million” – the number of people who have migrated for work in China. She has been a factory worker for the past ten years, and like many in her situation, only returns home a handful of times throughout the year to see her children. If her situation can be represented by a number, so can her children’s. They belong to the “61 million”, the estimated number of children in China who grow up without one or both parents present. Behind these numbers however, are stories far more intricate, stories that have implications not only for society but for businesses as well.

In the 1980s ballad, The Greatest Love of All, US pop diva Whitney Houston sang, “I believe the children are our future; teach them well and let them lead the way...” While she sang convincingly, this is not a new sentiment – children have always been the future. But how and whom is responsible for ‘teaching them well and letting them lead the way’, well, that’s changing.

Some medium-sized enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean are putting in place paternity packages that give their working fathers time to invest in their children. Marcelo Ber, Regional Child Rights and Business Focal Point for UNICEF Latin America, talks to new father, Rodrigo, on why spending time with his baby daughter is a valued employee benefit - for the short-term and long-term.

Selected as a UN Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals, Colombia’s Carolina Medina is, no doubt, goal-oriented. She wants to ensure that urban households have access to healthy and affordable food. A well-fed child, after all, has the opportunity to become well-educated child. Through her start-up, Agruppa, Medina is making this goal a reality – one “Mom and Pop” shop at a time.

Paul Sistare is a man on a mission. As the Founder and CEO of Atlantica Hotels International (Brasil), he not only ensures that his guests get a good night’s rest, but he makes sure that he does too. How does he do this? By knowing that he, and the whole Atlantica Hotel chain, promotes sustainable tourism with a special emphasis on protecting children’s rights.

Björn Sellström, Coordinator for Crimes Against Children team from Interpol, talks about Interpol’s fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children and what the corporate sector can do.

Companies must strengthen control over their supply chain, writes Théo Jaekel and Jasmin Draszka-Ali

Jenny Fredy, Senior Analyst at Global Child Forum, argues that for business to take on the global goals will require that businesses act responsibly, by incorporating the UN Global Compact Principles, as well as by identifying the opportunities that the new agenda provides. However, perhaps more than anything, what's needed is a new mind-set to drive new sustainable solutions and business models.