Empowering children to fight climate change

Environmental degradation, including the climate crisis, is “a form of systematic violence against children”.

Liên hợp quốc nỗ lực bảo vệ trẻ em trong ứng phó với biến đổi khí hậu

UNICEF warns that nearly 1 billion children are at extremely high risk globally due to climate change. (Source: UNICEF)

The United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child recently updated the Convention on the Rights of the Child to increase children's capacity to combat climate change.

For the first time, the committee affirmed the right of children to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

In its published guidance document, the Commission argues that environmental degradation, including the climate crisis, is “a form of systematic violence against children”. It also provides legal guidance on how children’s rights are affected by a specific topic or area of law, including the latest environmental rights with a particular focus on climate change.

Accordingly, states have a responsibility not only to protect children's rights from immediate harm but also to be accountable for foreseeable future violations of children's rights resulting from actions or inactions today.

Additionally, states may be held liable for environmental harm that occurs both within and beyond their borders.

Countries that have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are called upon to take immediate action, including moving towards phasing out fossil fuels and shifting to renewable energy sources, improving air quality, ensuring access to clean water and protecting biodiversity.

The guidance also makes clear that children's views must be considered when making environmental decisions and emphasises the important role of environmental education.

The new guidelines are “a significant step forward” in recognising that every child has the right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable world, said David Boyd, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment.

“Governments must now take urgent action to address the global environmental crisis to breathe life into these inspiring words,” he stressed.

The Guidelines are the result of global and intergenerational engagement, including extensive consultations with United Nations Member States, international and regional organizations, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations and children themselves.

In 1989, all member states of the United Nations, except the United States, ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which mentions four groups of rights: the right to survival, the right to protection, the right to development and the right to participation.

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