Countries have legal obligations to protect children from climate change: UN

New Delhi: The United Nations Committee on Rights of the Child has called upon the governments to take “administrative” action to protect the children from the adverse effects of environmental degradation and climate change.

Issuing the “authoritative” guidance on children’s rights, the committee said that all countries have a legal obligation to protect children from environmental degradation including by “regulating business enterprises” and to allow their underage citizens to seek legal recourse.

“Children have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the committee wrote. “This right is implicit in the convention and directly linked to, in particular, the rights to life, survival and development.”

The Committee has adopted its guidance, formally known as General Comment No.26, after two rounds of consultation with States, national human rights institutions, international organizations, civil society, thematic experts and children.

The Committee received 16,331 contributions from children in 121 countries.

 Children shared reports on the negative effects of environmental degradation and climate change on their lives and communities and asserted their right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

The Committee provides a comprehensive interpretation of State obligations under the UN Convention on the Right of the Child, which has been ratified by 196 countries, except United States.

The 1989 treaty outlines children’s rights, including to life, health, clean drinking water, and survival and development. 

“Children are architects, leaders, thinkers and changemakers of today’s world. Our voices matter, and they deserve to be listened to,” said Kartik, a climate and child rights activist from India and one of the Committee’s child advisers.

 “General Comment No. 26 is the instrument that will help us understand and exercise our rights in the face of environmental and climate crises,” he added.

“This general comment is of great and far-reaching legal significance,” said Ann Skelton, Chair of the Committee, emphasising, “as it details States’ obligations under the Child Right Convention to address environmental harms and guarantee that children are able to exercise their rights.

Children have been at the forefront of the fight against climate change, urging governments and corporations to take action to safeguard their lives and the future, said Committee member Philip Jaffé.

“With its General Comment No. 26, 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 States Parties should respect, protect and fulfil collectively and urgently,” he added.

The General Comment explicitly addresses the climate emergency, the collapse of biodiversity and pervasive pollution.

It specifies that States are responsible not only for protecting children’s rights from immediate harm, but also for foreseeable violations of their rights in the future due to action, or inaction, today.

Furthermore, it underlines that States can be held accountable for environmental harm occurring both within their borders and beyond.

Countries that have ratified the UN child rights convention are urged to take immediate action including 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 states that children’s views must be considered in environmental decision-making and stresses the critical role of environmental education.

General Comment No. 26 assists in interpreting States’ commitment under the paris Agreement  on climate change to respect, promote and consider their child rights obligations when taking climate action.

“The climate crisis is a child rights crisis,” said Paloma Escudero, UNICEF Special Adviser on Advocacy for Child Rights and Climate Action.

“Every government has an obligation to protect the rights of every child in every corner of the planet, especially those boys and girls living in countries that have contributed least to this problem but are enduring the most dangerous floods, droughts, storms and heat.”