UNITED NATIONS: A United Nations committee updated a key treaty designed to protect children’s rights to strengthen their hand in fighting climate change as they emerge at the forefront of the battle to protect the planet.
The 1989 treaty outlines children’s rights, including health, life, clean drinking water, and survival and development. In the document, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child calls environmental degradation, including the climate crisis, “a form of structural violence against children”.
It also says that states should provide access to justice for children, including through “removing barriers for children to initiate proceedings themselves”.
“This could definitely strengthen their hand because now there is a fully articulated set of guidance that pulls everything together in one place,” stated by Ann Skelton, chair of the committee and a South African lawyer, adding that she also hoped that businesses and policymakers would draw on the document.
Children have taken a leading role in advocating for action against climate change, compelling governments and corporations to take actions to ensure their well-being and secure the future. Committee member Philip Jaffé said, “The Committee on the Rights of the Child not only echoes and amplifies children’s voices but also clearly defines the rights of children in relation to the environment that State Parties should respect, protect and fulfill collectively and urgently.”
The revised treaty emphasizes that states bear the responsibility not only for shielding children’s rights from immediate harm but also for preventing foreseeable violations of these rights in the future, arising from today’s actions or inactions. Furthermore, it underscores that states can be held accountable for environmental harm that transcends their borders.
Nations that have ratified the UN Child Rights Convention are strongly urged to take immediate action. This includes transitioning away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources, enhancing air quality, ensuring access to clean water, and conserving biodiversity.
David Boyd, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, lauds General Comment No. 26 as a “significant stride forward” in acknowledging that every child possesses the entitlement to reside within a clean, healthy, and sustainable world. He underscores the urgency for governments to address the global environmental crisis to bring these visionary words into reality.
General Comment No. 26 is the result of inclusive collaboration across generations and nations, involving extensive consultations with UN Member States, international and regional entities, national human rights institutions, civil society groups, and the children themselves. —APP
