2024 at a Glance: Children’s Rights, Corporate Action, and the Road Ahead

This year brought legislative milestones, sobering statistics, and stark realities that underscored both hard-won progress and persistent gaps. Against a backdrop of escalating conflicts, climate challenges, and the widening digital divide, businesses, governments, and civil society were called upon to safeguard the youngest and most vulnerable generation.

Children on the frontlines of global crises

From wars to economic instability, children remained among the most vulnerable to global upheavals in 2024. Conflicts displaced millions of young lives, depriving them of safety, education, and basic healthcare. The KidsRights Index 2024 painted a distressing picture of children’s rights globally, revealing a 21% rise in serious violations during armed conflicts, making this one of the most devastating years for children in conflict zones.

At the same time, the lingering effects of the pandemic and rising inflation forced more families into extreme poverty, causing child labour rates to climb and further widening inequality.

Hunger and malnutrition also increased significantly in 2024, worsened by ongoing conflicts and economic instability. The World Food Programme reported record numbers of children facing acute hunger, while, paradoxically, childhood obesity also became a growing concern. Today, one in four children under the age of five suffer from poor nutrition, which can cause long-term damage. Companies in the food and beverage sector have a unique responsibility to address this dual challenge by promoting healthier, affordable products and ensuring sustainable food systems that prioritise children’s wellbeing.

Falling behind: The SDGs at risk

This year also marked a blunt realisation: we are off-track to meet the UN’s child-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With only one in three indicators on track, a mere one in four children are expected to live in countries that will meet these goals. This is more than a failure of governance—it is a failure of collective responsibility for the world’s future.

Corporate accountability: Progress and pitfalls

Global Child Forum’s State of Children’s Rights and Business 2024 report echoed these facts, revealing that 15% of the 1802 benchmarked companies scored zero across all indicators, showing no commitment to addressing children’s rights.

The 2024 benchmark also revealed that the food and beverage sector fell short in promoting healthier products for children. Furthermore, aggressive marketing practices that target vulnerable populations emphasise the urgent need for greater corporate accountability in tackling global health disparities. Companies lacking clear insight into their value chains contribute to ongoing issues.

In response to these challenges, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), adopted in May by the European Union, emerged as a transformative legal framework. It requires businesses to assess and mitigate human rights risks, including child labour, throughout their global operations.

This directive is a wake-up call for companies failing to take accountability for their supply chains—a point reinforced by Global Child Forum’s benchmark findings, which showed that many industries still lack adequate systems for monitoring child labour.

Technology: Lifeline and liability

This year the digital world continued to grow as both a lifeline and a risk for children. Technology plays an increasing role in education and connection, but it also exposes children to harmful content, cyberbullying, and exploitative practices.

The 2024 Benchmark found that only a small fraction of technology companies effectively addresses children’s digital wellbeing. This reality adds urgency to legislative efforts such as the UK’s Online Safety Act, which requires platforms to assess and mitigate risks to children while enforcing age restrictions and rapidly removing harmful content. This Act, along with Australia’s announcement to restrict social media use for minors under 16, highlights the global demand for safer digital environments—a gap the tech industry must urgently address.

A worldwide commitment to digital rights

On the international stage, the adoption of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) at the UN Summit of the Future was a key development.

As the first global framework for digital cooperation, the GDC stresses the importance of international law and human rights in the digital space, urging companies to create safe, responsible environments, especially for vulnerable groups like women and children.

The GDC highlights commitments to promote information integrity, protect democracy, expand internet access, and foster digital innovation. While not a cure-all, the Compact laid a strong foundation for a safer, more inclusive digital world for children.

The path forward

As we reflect on 2024, it’s clear that businesses must step up. As 2025 approaches, legislative milestones like the CSDDD and insights from the Global Child Forum Benchmark highlight the path forward: corporates and investors must address systemic challenges and create meaningful change.

Companies must do more to reduce their environmental impact, ensure safe digital spaces, and eradicate exploitative labour. At Forum 2024, we issued a powerful call to action for businesses worldwide: Listen Up! Engage Children as Stakeholders.

This initiative urges companies to recognise the vital role that children play in shaping the future, and to take concrete steps to involve them in their decision-making processes. By doing so, businesses not only address immediate challenges but also contribute to a more inclusive, sustainable future.

By working together with a clear goal and promoting real involvement from children, while adapting to new laws, we can build a better future where every child has the chance to succeed and feels empowered to reach their full potential.