Human Rights – Save the Children urges businesses to take their child safeguarding responsibilities seriously

Today’s guilty plea in the Auckland District Court by a convicted paedophile [1] shows just how important it is for all businesses working with and for children to have thorough and robust child safeguarding policies and procedures.

Save the Children New Zealand is shocked that a convicted paedophile was allowed to work closely with children in his role as a cameraman. His guilty plea today where he admitted creation, possession and distribution of child sexual exploitation material shows that he is a serious threat to children. It is disappointing that employment screening procedures did not pick up that threat before he was employed to work with children.

Jacqui Southey, Child Rights Advocacy Director for Save the Children says, “All children have the right to be protected from harm and it is the responsibility of businesses to ensure they are doing everything in their power to protect children from predators. It is our very strong recommendation that all businesses and organisations that work with and for children, do not see this as an unfortunate incident, but as an example of how important it is to have child safeguarding procedures and policies in place to ensure children are protected from harm and sexual exploitation.”

Save the Children works in 120 countries across the world. The organisation responds to emergencies and works with children and their communities to ensure they survive, learn and are protected.

Save the Children NZ currently supports international programmes in Fiji, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand, and Mozambique. Areas of work include education and literacy, disaster risk reduction, and alleviating child poverty.