Klima-, Energi- og Forsyningsudvalget 2022-23 (2. samling)
KEF Alm.del Bilag 376
Offentligt
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United Nations
CRC
/C/GC/26
Distr.: General
22 August 2023
Original: English
Convention on the
Rights of the Child
Committee on the Rights of the Child
General comment No. 26 (2023) on children’s rights and the
environment, with a special focus on climate change
*
I. Introduction
1.
The extent and magnitude of the triple planetary crisis, comprising the climate
emergency, the collapse of biodiversity and pervasive pollution, is an urgent and systemic
threat to children’s rights globally. The unsustainable extraction and use of natural resources,
combined with widespread contamination through pollution and waste, have had a profound
impact on the natural environment, fuelling climate change, intensifying the toxic pollution
of water, air and soil, causing ocean acidification and devastating biodiversity and the very
ecosystems that sustain all life.
2.
The efforts of children to draw attention to these environmental crises created the
motivation and were the momentum behind the present general comment. The Committee
benefited immeasurably from the contributions of children at its 2016 day of general
discussion on children’s rights and the environment. A diverse and dedicated children’s
advisory team, comprising 12 advisors of between 11 and 17 years of age, supported the
consultation process undertaken for the general comment, with 16,331 contributions from
children, from 121 countries, through online surveys, focus groups and in-person national
and regional consultations.
3.
The children consulted reported on the negative effects of environmental degradation
and climate change on their lives and communities. They asserted their right to live in a clean,
healthy and sustainable environment: “The environment is our life.” “Adults [should] stop
making decisions for the future they won’t experience. [We] are the key means [of] solving
climate change, as it is [our] lives at stake.” “I would like to tell [adults] that we are the future
generations and, if you destroy the planet, where will we live?!”
1
4.
Child human rights defenders, as agents of change, have made historic contributions
to human rights and environmental protection. Their status should be recognized, and their
demands for urgent and decisive measures to tackle global environmental harm should be
realized.
5.
While the present general comment is focused on climate change, its application
should not be limited to any particular environmental issue. New environmental challenges
may arise in the future, for example, those linked to technological and economic development
and social change. States should ensure that the present general comment is widely
disseminated to all relevant stakeholders, in particular children, and is made available in
multiple languages and formats, including age-appropriate and accessible versions.
*
Adopted by the Committee at its ninety-third session (8–26 May 2023).
1
See https://childrightsenvironment.org/reports/.
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A.
Child rights-based approach to environmental protection
6.
The application of a child rights-based approach to the environment requires the full
consideration of all children’s rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
Optional Protocols thereto.
7.
In a children’s rights-based approach, the process of realizing children’s rights is as
important as the result. As rights holders, children are entitled to protection from
infringements of their rights stemming from environmental harm and to be recognized and
fully respected as environmental actors. In taking such an approach, particular attention is
paid to the multiple barriers faced by children in disadvantaged situations in enjoying and
claiming their rights.
8.
A clean, healthy and sustainable environment is both a human right itself and
necessary for the full enjoyment of a broad range of children’s rights. Conversely,
environmental degradation, including the consequences of the climate crisis, adversely
affects the enjoyment of these rights, in particular for children in disadvantaged situations or
children living in regions that are highly exposed to climate change. The exercise by children
of their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, to information
and education, to participate and be heard and to effective remedies can result in more rights-
compliant, and therefore more ambitious and effective, environmental policies. In this way,
children’s rights and environmental protection form a virtuous circle.
B.
Evolution of international law on human rights and the environment
9.
The Convention explicitly addresses environmental issues in article 24 (2) (c), by
which States are obliged to take measures to combat disease and malnutrition, taking into
consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution, and under article 29 (1) (e),
by which they are required to direct the education of children to the development of respect
for the natural environment. Since the adoption of the Convention, growing acceptance has
emerged of the wide-ranging interconnections between children’s rights and environmental
protection. Unprecedented environmental crises and the resulting challenges for the
realization of children’s rights require a dynamic interpretation of the Convention.
10.
The Committee is mindful of efforts of relevance to its interpretation, including: (a)
the recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the
General Assembly
2
and the Human Rights Council;
3
(b) the framework principles on human
rights and the environment;
4
(c) the existing and evolving norms, principles, standards and
obligations under international environmental law, such as the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement; (d) the legal developments and
jurisprudence at the regional level recognizing the relationship between human rights and the
environment; and (e) the recognition of some form of the right to a clean, healthy and
sustainable environment in international agreements, the jurisprudence of regional and
national courts, national constitutions, laws and policies by a vast majority of States.
5
C.
Intergenerational equity and future generations
11.
The Committee recognizes the principle of intergenerational equity and the interests
of future generations, to which the children consulted overwhelmingly referred. While the
rights of children who are present on Earth require immediate urgent attention, the children
constantly arriving are also entitled to the realization of their human rights to the maximum
extent. Beyond their immediate obligations under the Convention with regard to the
environment, States bear the responsibility for foreseeable environment-related threats
2
3
4
5
General Assembly resolution 76/300.
Human Rights Council resolution 48/13.
A/HRC/37/59,
annex.
See
A/HRC/43/53.
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arising as a result of their acts or omissions now, the full implications of which may not
manifest for years or even decades.
D.
Objectives
12.
In the present general comment, the Committee aims to:
(a)
Emphasize the urgent need to address the adverse effects of environmental
degradation, with a special focus on climate change, on the enjoyment of children’s rights;
(b)
Promote a holistic understanding of children’s rights as they apply to
environmental protection;
(c)
Clarify the obligations of States to the Convention and provide authoritative
guidance on legislative, administrative and other appropriate measures to address
environmental harm, with a special focus on climate change.
II. Specific rights under the Convention as they relate to
the environment
13. Children’s rights, like all human rights, are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.
Some rights are particularly threatened by environmental degradation. Other rights play an
instrumental role in safeguarding children’s rights in relation to the environment. The right
to education, for example, is a right that has both dimensions.
A.
Right to non-discrimination (art. 2)
14.
States have an obligation to effectively prevent, protect against and provide remedies
for both direct and indirect environmental discrimination. Children in general, and certain
groups of children in particular, face heightened barriers to the enjoyment of their rights, due
to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination; such grounds include those specifically
prohibited under article 2 of the Convention and the “other status” referred to in the article.
The impact of environmental harm has a discriminatory effect on certain groups of children,
especially Indigenous children, children belonging to minority groups, children with
disabilities and children living in disaster-prone or climate-vulnerable environments.
15.
States should collect disaggregated data to identify the differential effects of
environment-related harm on children and to better understand intersectionalities, paying
special attention to groups of children who are most at risk, and to implement special
measures and policies, as required. States must ensure that all legislation, policies and
programmes that deal with environmental issues are not intentionally or unintentionally
discriminatory towards children in their content or implementation.
B.
Best interests of the child (art. 3)
16.
Environmental decisions generally concern children, and the best interests of the child
shall be a primary consideration in the adoption and implementation of environmental
decisions, including laws, regulations, policies, standards, guidelines, plans, strategies,
budgets, international agreements and the provision of development assistance. Where an
environmental decision may have a significant impact on children, conducting a more
detailed procedure to assess and determine children’s best interests that provides
opportunities for their effective and meaningful participation, is appropriate.
17.
Determining the best interests of the child should include an assessment of the specific
circumstances that place children uniquely at risk in the context of environmental harm. The
purpose of assessing the best interests of the child shall be to ensure the full and effective
enjoyment of all rights, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
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States should not only protect children against environmental harm, but also ensure their
well-being and development, taking into account the possibility of future risk and harm.
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18.
The adoption of all measures of implementation should also follow a procedure that
ensures that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration. A child rights impact
assessment should be used to evaluate the environmental impact of all implementation
measures, such as any proposed policy, legislation, regulation, budget or other administrative
decision concerning children, and should complement ongoing monitoring and evaluation of
the impact of measures on children’s rights.
19.
Potential conflicts of the best interests of the child with other interests or rights should
be resolved on a case-by-case basis, carefully balancing the interests of all parties. Decision
makers should analyse and weigh the rights and interests of all those concerned, giving
appropriate weight to the primacy of the best interests of the child. States should take into
account the possibility that environmental decisions that seem reasonable individually and
on a shorter timescale can become unreasonable in aggregate and when considering the full
harm that they will cause to children throughout their life courses.
C.
Right to life, survival and development
20.
The right to life is threatened by environmental degradation, including climate change,
pollution and biodiversity loss, which are closely linked to other fundamental challenges
impeding the realization of this right, including poverty, inequality and conflict. States should
take positive measures to ensure that children are protected from foreseeable premature or
unnatural death and threats to their lives that may be caused by acts and omissions, as well
as the activities of business actors, and enjoy their right to life with dignity.
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Such measures
include the adoption and effective implementation of environmental standards, for example,
those related to air and water quality, food safety, lead exposure and greenhouse gas
emissions, and all other adequate and necessary environmental measures that are protective
of children’s right to life.
21.
The obligations of States under article 6 of the Convention also apply to structural and
long-term challenges arising from environmental conditions that may lead to direct threats to
the right to life and require taking appropriate measures to tackle those conditions, for
example, the sustainable use of resources needed for covering basic needs and the protection
of healthy ecosystems and biodiversity. Special measures of protection are needed to prevent
and reduce child mortality from environmental conditions and for groups in vulnerable
situations.
22.
Environmental degradation increase children’s risk of facing grave rights violations
in armed conflict due to displacement, famine and increased violence. In the context of armed
conflict, States should prohibit the development or retention of, and ensure the clean-up of
areas contaminated by, unexploded ordnance and residue of biological, chemical and nuclear
weapons, in line with international commitments.
23.
Environmental degradation jeopardizes children’s ability to achieve their full
developmental potential, with implications for a wide range of other rights under the
Convention. The development of children is intertwined with the environment in which they
live. The developmental benefits of a healthy environment include those linked to
opportunities to experience outdoor activities and to interact with and play in natural
environments, including the animal world.
24.
Younger children are particularly susceptible to environmental hazards due to their
unique activity patterns, behaviours and physiology. Exposure to toxic pollutants, even at
low levels, during developmental windows of increased vulnerability can easily disrupt the
maturational processes of the brain, organs and the immune system and cause disease and
impairments during and beyond childhood, sometimes after a substantial latency period. The
6
7
General comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a
primary consideration, paras. 16 (e), 71 and 74.
Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36 (2018) on the right to life, para. 62.
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effects of environmental contaminants may even persist in future generations. States should
consistently and explicitly consider the impact of exposure to toxic substances and pollution
in early life.
25.
States should recognize each stage of childhood, the importance of each stage for
subsequent stages of maturation and development and children’s varying needs at each stage.
To create an optimal environment for the right to development, States should explicitly and
consistently consider all factors required for children of all different ages to survive, develop
and thrive to their fullest potential and design and implement evidence-based interventions
that address a wide range of environmental determinants during the life course.
D.
Right to be heard (art. 12)
26.
Children identify environmental issues as being highly important to their lives.
Children’s voices are a powerful global force for environmental protection, and their views
add relevant perspectives and experience with respect to decision-making on environmental
matters at all levels. Even from an early age, children can enhance the quality of
environmental solutions, for example, by providing invaluable insights into issues such as
the effectiveness of early warning systems for environmental hazards. Children’s views
should be proactively sought and given due weight in the design and implementation of
measures aimed at addressing the significant and long-term environmental challenges that
are fundamentally shaping their lives. Creative means of expression, such as art and music,
may be used by children to participate and express their views. Additional support and special
strategies may be required to empower children in disadvantaged situations, such as children
with disabilities, children belonging to minority groups and children living in vulnerable
areas, to exercise their right to be heard. The digital environment and tools can enhance
consultations with children and expand their capacity and opportunities to be effectively
engaged in environmental matters, including through collective advocacy, if carefully used,
with due attention given to challenges regarding digital inclusion.
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27.
States must ensure that age-appropriate, safe and accessible mechanisms are in place
for children’s views to be heard regularly and at all stages of environmental decision-making
processes for legislation, policies, regulations, projects and activities that may affect them, at
the local, national and international levels. For free, active, meaningful and effective
participation, children should be provided with environmental and human rights education,
age-appropriate and accessible information, adequate time and resources and a supportive
and enabling environment. They should receive information about the outcomes of
environment-related consultations and feedback on how their views were taken into account
and have access to child-sensitive complaint procedures and remedies when their right to be
heard in the environmental context is disregarded.
28.
At the international level, States, intergovernmental organizations and international
non-governmental organizations should facilitate the involvement of children’s associations
and child-led organizations or groups in environmental decision-making processes. States
should ensure that their obligations concerning children’s right to be heard are incorporated
into international environmental decision-making processes, including in negotiations and
the implementation of instruments of international environmental law. Efforts to enhance
youth participation in environmental decision-making processes should be inclusive of
children.
E.
Freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly (arts. 13
and 15)
29.
Children across the world are taking action, individually and collectively, to protect
the environment, including by highlighting the consequences of climate change. States shall
respect and protect children’s rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
8
General comment No. 25 (2021) on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, paras. 16
and 18.
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assembly in relation to the environment, including by providing a safe and enabling
environment and a legal and institutional framework within which children can effectively
exercise their rights. Children’s rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
assembly shall not be subjected to restrictions other than those imposed in conformity with
the law and that are necessary in a democratic society.
30.
Children who exercise their right to freedom of expression or engage in protests on
environmental matters, including children environmental human rights defenders, often face
threats, intimidation, harassment and other serious reprisals. States are required to protect
their rights, including by providing a safe and empowering context for initiatives organized
by children to defend human rights in schools and other settings. States, State actors, such as
the police, and other stakeholders, including teachers, should receive training on children’s
civil and political rights, including measures to ensure that children can enjoy them safely.
States must take all appropriate measures to ensure that no restrictions other than those that
are provided by law and that are necessary are imposed on forming and joining associations
or taking part in environmental protests. Laws, including those relating to defamation and
libel, should not be abused to suppress children’s rights. States should adopt and implement
laws to protect child human rights defenders in accordance with international human rights
standards. States should provide effective remedies for violations of children’s rights to
freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
31.
States should foster, recognize and support the positive contribution of children to
environmental sustainability and climate justice, as an important means of civil and political
engagement through which children can negotiate and advocate for the realization of their
rights, including their right to a healthy environment, and hold States accountable.
F.
Access to information (arts. 13 and 17)
32.
Access to information is essential for enabling children and their parents or caregivers
to comprehend the potential effects of environmental harm on children’s rights. It is also a
crucial prerequisite for realizing the rights of children to express their views, to be heard and
to effective remedy regarding environmental matters.
33.
Children have the right to access to accurate and reliable environmental information,
including about the causes, effects and actual and potential sources of climate and
environmental harm, adaptive responses, relevant climate and environmental legislation,
regulations, findings from climate and environmental impact assessments, policies and plans
and sustainable lifestyle choices. Such information empowers children to learn what they can
do in their immediate environment related to waste management, recycling and consumption
behaviours.
34.
States have an obligation to make environmental information available.
Dissemination methods should be appropriate to children’s ages and capacities and aimed at
overcoming obstacles, such as illiteracy, disability, language barriers, distance and limited
access to information and communications technology. States should encourage the media to
disseminate accurate information and materials regarding the environment, for example,
measures that children and their families can take to manage risks in the context of climate
change-related disasters.
G.
Right to freedom from all forms of violence (art. 19)
35.
Environmental degradation, including the climate crisis, is a form of structural
violence against children and can cause social collapse in communities and families. Poverty,
economic and social inequalities, food insecurity and forced displacement aggravate the risk
that children will experience violence, abuse and exploitation. For example, poorer
households are less resilient to environment-related shocks, including those caused or
exacerbated by climate change, such as rising sea levels, floods, cyclones, air pollution,
extreme weather events, desertification, deforestation, droughts, fires, storms and
biodiversity loss. The financial hardships, food and clean water shortages and fragile child
protection systems brought about by such shocks undermine families’ daily routines, place
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an extra burden on children and increase their vulnerability to gender-based violence, child
marriage, female genital mutilation, child labour, abduction, trafficking, displacement, sexual
violence and exploitation and recruitment into criminal, armed and/or violent extremist
groups. Children must be protected from all forms of physical and psychological violence
and from exposure to violence, such as domestic violence or violence inflicted on animals.
36.
Investment in children’s services can considerably reduce the overall environmental
risks faced by children worldwide. States should adopt cross-sectoral measures to address the
drivers of violence against children linked to environmental degradation.
H.
Right to the highest attainable standard of health (art. 24)
37.
The right to health includes the enjoyment of a variety of facilities, goods, services
and conditions that are necessary for the realization of the highest attainable standard of
health, including a healthy environment. This right is dependent on and is indispensable to
the enjoyment of many other rights under the Convention.
38.
Environmental pollution is a major threat to children’s health, as explicitly recognized
in article 24 (2) (c) of the Convention. However, in many countries, pollution is often
overlooked and its impact underestimated. Lack of potable water, inadequate sanitation and
household air pollution pose serious threats to children’s health. Pollution associated with
past and present industrial activities, including exposure to toxic substances and hazardous
waste, presents more complex threats to health, often resulting in effects long after exposure.
39.
Climate change, biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems are obstacles to
the realization of children’s right to health. These environmental factors often interact,
exacerbating existing health disparities. For example, rising temperatures caused by climate
change increase the risk of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases and concentrations of air
pollutants that stunt brain and lung development and exacerbate respiratory conditions.
Climate change, pollution and toxic substances all represent key drivers of the alarming loss
in biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems on which human health depends. Specific
effects include reductions in microbial diversity, which is critical to the development of
children’s immune systems, and the increasing prevalence of autoimmune diseases, with
long-term effects.
40.
Air and water pollution, exposure to toxic substances, including chemical fertilizers,
soil and land degradation and other types of environmental harm increase child mortality,
especially among children under 5 years of age, and contribute to the prevalence of disease,
impaired brain development and subsequent cognitive deficits. The effects of climate change,
including water scarcity, food insecurity, vector-borne and waterborne diseases, the
intensification of air pollution and physical trauma linked to both sudden- and slow-onset
events, are disproportionately borne by children.
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41.
Another concern is children’s current and anticipated psychosocial and mental health
conditions caused by environmental harm, including climate change-related events. The clear
emerging link between environmental harm and children’s mental health, such as depression
and eco-anxiety, requires pressing attention, both in terms of response and prevention
programmes, by public health and education authorities.
42.
States should integrate measures to address environmental health concerns relevant to
children into their national plans, policies and strategies relating to both health and the
environment. Legislative, regulatory and institutional frameworks, including regulations
dealing with the business sector, should effectively protect children’s environmental health
where they live, study, play and work. Environmental health standards should be consistent
with the best available science and all relevant international guidelines, such as those
established by the World Health Organization, and be strictly enforced. The obligations of
9
For example, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sixth Assessment Report, Summary for
Policymakers, figure SPM.1, The data show the disproportionate, cumulative and long-term effects of
climate change on people born in 2020.
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States under article 24 of the Convention also apply when developing and implementing
environmental agreements to address transboundary and global threats to children’s health.
43.
The right to health includes access for children affected by environmental harm to
high-quality public health and health-care facilities, goods and services, and particular
attention should be given to underserved and hard-to-reach populations and to delivering
high-quality prenatal maternal health care nationwide. Facilities, programmes and services
should be equipped to respond to environmental health hazards. Health protection also
applies to the conditions that children need to lead a healthy life, such as a safe climate, safe
and clean drinking water and sanitation, sustainable energy, adequate housing, access to
nutritionally adequate and safe food and healthy working conditions.
44.
The availability of high-quality data is crucial for adequate protection against climate
and environmental health risks. States should assess the local, national and transboundary
health effects of environmental harm, including the causes of mortality and morbidity, while
taking into consideration the entire life course of children and the vulnerabilities and
inequalities that they face at each life stage. Priority concerns, the impacts of climate change
and emerging environmental health issues should be identified. In addition to data collected
through routine health information systems, research is required, for example, for
longitudinal cohort studies and studies of pregnant women, infants and children that capture
risks at critical windows of development.
I.
Right to social security and adequate standard of living (arts. 26
and 27)
45.
Children have the right to a standard of living adequate for their physical, mental,
spiritual, moral and social development. A clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a
prerequisite for the realization of this right, including to adequate housing, food security and
safe and clean drinking water and sanitation.
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46.
The Committee underlines that the rights to adequate housing, food, water and
sanitation should be realized sustainably, including with respect to material consumption,
resource and energy use and the appropriation of space and nature.
47.
Exposure to environmental harm has both direct and structural causes and exacerbates
the effects of multidimensional child poverty. In the environmental context, social security,
as guaranteed under article 26 of the Convention, is particularly relevant. States are urged to
introduce features into social security policies and social protection floors that provide
children and their families with protection against environmental shocks and slow-onset
harms, including from climate change. States should strengthen child-centred poverty
alleviation programmes in the areas that are most vulnerable to environmental risks.
48.
Children, including displaced children, should have access to adequate housing that
conforms to international human rights standards. Housing should be sustainable and resilient
and should not be built on polluted sites or in areas facing a high risk of environmental
degradation. Homes should have safe and sustainable sources of energy for cooking, heating,
lighting and appropriate ventilation and be free from mould, toxic substances and smoke.
There should be effective management of waste and litter, protection from traffic, excessive
noise and overcrowding and access to safe drinking water and sustainable sanitation and
hygiene facilities.
49.
Children should not be subject to forced evictions without prior provision of adequate
alternative accommodation, including relocation linked to development and infrastructure
projects addressing energy and/or climate mitigation and adaptation action. Child rights
impact assessments should be a prerequisite for such projects. Particular attention should be
paid to preserving the traditional land of Indigenous children and protecting the quality of
10
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to
water, para. 3; and Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 15 (2013) on the right
of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, para. 48.
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the natural environment for the enjoyment of their rights, including their right to an adequate
standard of living.
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50.
In situations of cross-border displacement and migration linked to climate-related and
environment-related events and related to armed conflict situations, the Committee
underlines the importance of international cooperation and the obligation of States to
undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure the rights
under the Convention for all children within their jurisdiction, without discrimination.
Relevant authorities should consider the risk of children’s rights violations caused by the
impacts of environmental degradation, including climate change, when deciding upon
admission and when reviewing claims for international protection, in particular given, for
example, the particularly serious consequences for children of the insufficient provision of
food or health services. States should not deport children and their families to any place where
they would face a real risk of grave violations as a result of the adverse effects of
environmental degradation.
J.
Right to education (arts. 28 and 29 (1) (e))
51.
Education is one of the cornerstones of a child rights-based approach to the
environment. Children have highlighted that education is instrumental in protecting their
rights and the environment and in increasing their awareness and preparedness for
environmental damage; however, the right to education is highly vulnerable to the impact of
environmental harm, as it can result in school closures and disruptions, school dropout and
the destruction of schools and places to play.
52.
Article 29 (1) (e) of the Convention, requiring that the education of a child be directed
to the development of respect for the natural environment, should be read in conjunction with
article 28, to ensure that every child has the right to receive an education that reflects
environmental values.
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53.
A rights-based environmental education should be transformative, inclusive, child-
centred, child-friendly and empowering. It should pursue the development of the child’s
personality, talents and abilities, acknowledge the close interrelationship between respect for
the natural environment and other ethical values enshrined in article 29 (1) of the Convention
and have both a local and global orientation.
13
School curricula should be tailored to
children’s specific environmental, social, economic and cultural contexts and promote
understanding of the contexts of other children affected by environmental degradation.
Teaching materials should provide scientifically accurate, up-to-date and developmentally
and age-appropriate environmental information. All children should be equipped with the
skills necessary to face expected environmental challenges in life, such as disaster risks and
environment-related health impacts, including the ability to critically reflect upon such
challenges, solve problems, make well-balanced decisions and assume environmental
responsibility, such as through sustainable lifestyles and consumption, in accordance with
their evolving capacities.
54.
Environmental values should be reflected in the education and training of all
professionals involved in education, encompassing teaching methods, technologies and
approaches used in education, school environments and preparing children for green jobs.
Environmental education extends beyond formal schooling to embrace the broad range of
lived experiences and learning. Exploratory, non-formal and practical methods, such as
outdoor learning, are a preferred way of delivering this aim of education.
55.
States should build safe, healthy and resilient infrastructure for effective learning. This
includes ensuring the availability of pedestrian and biking routes and public transportation to
school and that schools and alternative learning facilities are located at safe distances from
sources of pollution, flooding, landslides and other environmental hazards, including
11
12
13
General comment No. 11 (2009) on Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention, paras.
34 and 35.
General comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of education, para. 13.
Ibid., paras. 2, 12 and 13.
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contaminated sites, and the construction of buildings and classrooms with adequate heating
and cooling and access to sufficient, safe and acceptable drinking water
14
and sanitation
facilities. Environmentally friendly school facilities, such as those with lighting and heating
sourced from renewable energy and edible gardens, can benefit children and ensure
compliance by States with their environmental obligations.
56.
During and after water scarcity, sandstorms, heatwaves and other severe weather
events, States should ensure physical access to schools, especially for children in remote or
rural communities, or consider alternative teaching methods, such as mobile educational
facilities and distance learning. Underserved communities should be prioritized for the
climate-proofing and renovation of schools. States should ensure alternative housing for
displaced populations as soon as possible to ensure that schools are not used as shelters. When
responding to emergencies caused by severe weather events in areas already affected by
armed conflict, States should ensure that schools do not become targets for armed groups’
activity.
57.
States should recognize and address the disproportionate indirect and knock-on effects
of environmental degradation on children’s education, paying special attention to gender-
specific situations, such as children leaving school due to additional domestic and economic
burdens in households facing environment-related shocks and stress.
K.
Rights of Indigenous children and children belonging to
minority groups (art. 30)
58.
Indigenous children are disproportionately affected by biodiversity loss, pollution and
climate change. States should closely consider the impact of environmental harm, such as
deforestation, on traditional land and culture and the quality of the natural environment, while
ensuring the rights to life, survival and development of Indigenous children. States must
undertake measures to meaningfully engage with Indigenous children and their families in
responding to environmental harm, including harm caused by climate change, taking due
account of and integrating concepts from Indigenous cultures and traditional knowledge in
mitigation and adaptation measures. While children in Indigenous communities face unique
risks, they can also act as educators and advocates in applying traditional knowledge to
reduce the impact of local hazards and strengthen resilience, if this knowledge is passed on
and supported. Comparable measures should be taken regarding the rights of children
belonging to non-Indigenous minority groups whose rights, way of life and cultural identity
are intimately related to nature.
L.
Right to rest, play, leisure and recreation (art. 31)
59.
Play and recreation are essential to the health and well-being of children and promote
the development of creativity, imagination, self-confidence, self-efficacy and physical, social,
cognitive and emotional strength and skills. Play and recreation contribute to all aspects of
learning, are critical to children’s holistic development
15
and afford important opportunities
for children to explore and experience the natural world and biodiversity, benefiting their
mental health and well-being and contributing to understanding, appreciation and care for the
natural environment.
60.
Conversely, unsafe and hazardous environments undermine the realization of the
rights under article 31 (1) of the Convention and are risk factors for children’s health,
development and safety. Children need inclusive spaces for play that are close to their homes
and free from environmental hazards. The impacts of climate change exacerbate these
challenges, while climate change-related stress on household incomes may reduce children’s
available time for, and ability to engage in, rest, leisure, recreation and play.
14
15
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15 (2002), paras. 12 (c)
(i) and 16 (b).
General comment No. 17 (2013) on the right of the child to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities,
cultural life and the arts, paras. 9 and 14 (c).
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61.
States shall take effective legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure that
all children, without discrimination, are able to play and engage in recreational activities in
safe, clean and healthy environments, including natural spaces, parks and playgrounds. In
public planning, in rural and urban settings, children’s views should be given due weight and
the creation of environments promoting their well-being should be prioritized. Consideration
should be given to: (a) providing access, by means of safe, affordable and accessible
transportation, to green areas, large open spaces and nature for play and recreation; (b)
creating a safe local environment that is for free play, free from pollution, hazardous
chemicals and waste; and (c) undertaking road traffic measures to reduce pollution levels
near households, schools and playgrounds, including through the design of zones in which
children playing, walking and cycling have priority.
62.
States should introduce legislation, regulations and guidelines, accompanied by
necessary budgetary allocations and effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, to
ensure that third parties comply with article 31 of the Convention, including by establishing
safety standards for all toys and play and recreational facilities, in particular concerning toxic
substances, in urban and rural development projects. In situations of climate change-related
disasters, measures should be taken to restore and protect these rights, including through the
creation or restoration of safe spaces and by encouraging play and creative expression to
promote resilience and psychological healing.
III. Right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
63.
Children have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. This right is
implicit in the Convention and directly linked to, in particular, the rights to life, survival and
development, under article 6, to the highest attainable standard of health, including taking
into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution, under article 24, to an
adequate standard of living, under article 27, and to education, under article 28, including the
development of respect for the natural environment, under article 29.
64.
The substantive elements of this right are profoundly important for children, given
that they include clean air, a safe and stable climate, healthy ecosystems and biodiversity,
safe and sufficient water, healthy and sustainable food and non-toxic environments.
16
65.
Towards the realization of this right for children, the Committee considers that States
should immediately take the following action:
(a)
Improve air quality, by reducing both outdoor and household air pollution, to
prevent child mortality, especially among children under 5 years of age;
(b)
Ensure access to safe and sufficient water and sanitation and healthy aquatic
ecosystems to prevent the spread of waterborne illnesses among children;
(c)
Transform industrial agriculture and fisheries to produce healthy and
sustainable food aimed at preventing malnutrition and promoting children’s growth and
development;
(d)
Equitably phase out the use of coal, oil and natural gas, ensure a fair and just
transition of energy sources and invest in renewable energy, energy storage and energy
efficiency to address the climate crisis;
(e)
Conserve, protect and restore biodiversity;
(f)
Prevent marine pollution, by banning the direct or indirect introduction of
substances into the marine environment that are hazardous to children’s health and marine
ecosystems;
17
16
17
See
A/74/161, A/75/161, A/76/179, A/HRC/40/55, A/HRC/46/28
and
A/HRC/49/53.
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, art. 2.2 (a).
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(g)
Closely regulate and eliminate, as appropriate, the production, sale, use and
release of toxic substances that have disproportionate adverse health effects on children, in
particular those substances that are developmental neurotoxins.
18
66.
Procedural elements, including access to information, participation in decision-
making and child-friendly access to justice, with effective remedies, have equal importance
to the empowerment of children, including through education, to become agents of their own
destiny.
67.
States should incorporate children’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable
environment into their national legislation and take adequate measures to implement it in
order to strengthen accountability. This right should be mainstreamed across all decisions
and measures concerning children, including policies related to education, leisure, play,
access to green spaces, child protection, children’s health and migration, and national
frameworks for the implementation of the Convention.
IV. General measures of implementation (art. 4)
A.
Obligation of States to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights
68.
States must ensure a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in order to respect,
protect and fulfil children’s rights. The obligation to respect children’s rights requires States
to refrain from violating them by causing environmental harm. They shall protect children
against environmental damage from other sources and third parties, including by regulating
business enterprises. States parties are also under the obligation to prevent and remediate the
impacts of environmental hazards on children’s rights, even where such threats are beyond
human control, for example, by establishing inclusive early warning systems. States must
take urgent steps to fulfil their obligation to facilitate, promote and provide for the enjoyment
by children of their rights, including their right to a clean, healthy and sustainable
environment, such as by transitioning to clean energy and adopting strategies and
programmes to ensure the sustainable use of water resources.
69.
States have a due diligence obligation to take appropriate preventive measures to
protect children against reasonably foreseeable environmental harm and violations of their
rights, paying due regard to the precautionary principle. This includes assessing the
environmental impacts of policies and projects, identifying and preventing foreseeable harm,
mitigating such harm if it is not preventable and providing for timely and effective remedies
to redress both foreseeable and actual harm.
70.
States are also obliged to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights that are exercised
in relation to the environment. The obligation to respect rights requires that they refrain from
any action that would limit children’s right to express their views on matters relating to the
environment and from impeding access to accurate environmental information, and protect
children from misinformation concerning environmental risks and from the risk of violence
or other reprisals. The obligation to fulfil rights requires that States combat negative societal
attitudes to children’s right to be heard and to facilitate their meaningful participation in
environmental decision-making.
71.
States must take deliberate, specific and targeted steps towards achieving the full and
effective enjoyment of children’s rights related to the environment, including their right to a
healthy environment, including through the development of legislation, policies, strategies or
plans that are science-based and consistent with relevant international guidelines related to
environmental health and safety and by refraining from taking retrogressive measures that
are less protective of children.
72.
States are obliged to devote financial, natural, human, technological, institutional and
informational resources to realize children’s rights in relation to the environment to the
18
See
A/HRC/49/53.
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maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of
international cooperation.
19
73.
Subject to any obligations under international law, including those contained in
multilateral environmental agreements to which they are party, States retain discretion in
arriving at a reasonable balance between determining the appropriate levels of environmental
protection and achieving other social goals in the light of available resources. Nevertheless,
such leeway is limited by the obligations of States under the Convention. Children are far
more likely than adults to suffer serious harm, including irreversible and lifelong
consequences and death, from environmental degradation. Given their heightened duty of
care, States should therefore set and enforce environmental standards that protect children
from such disproportionate and long-term effects.
20
74.
States should ensure the collection of reliable, regularly updated and disaggregated
data and research on environmental harm, including the risks and actual impacts of climate
change-related harm on children’s rights. They should include longitudinal data on the effects
of environmental harm on children’s rights, in particular on health, education and standard
of living at different ages. Such data and research should inform the formulation and
evaluation of environmental legislation, policies, programmes and plans at all levels and must
be made publicly available.
B.
Child rights impact assessments
75.
All proposed environment-related legislation, policies, projects, regulations, budgets
and decisions, and those already in force, require vigorous children’s rights impact
assessments, in accordance with article 3 (1) of the Convention. States should require the
assessment, both before and after implementation, of the possible direct and indirect impact
on the environment and climate, including the transboundary, cumulative, and both
production and consumption effects, on the enjoyment of children’s rights.
76.
Whether child rights impact assessments are included within the framework of an
environmental or integrated impact assessment, or carried out as a standalone assessment,
they should incorporate a special regard for the differential impact of environmental decisions
on children, in particular young children and other groups of children most at risk, as
measured against all relevant rights under the Convention, including short-, medium- and
long-term, combined and irreversible impacts, interactive and cumulative impacts and
impacts in the different stages of childhood. For example, States that have substantial fossil
fuel industries should assess the social and economic impact on children of their related
decisions.
77.
Child rights impact assessments should be undertaken as early as possible in the
decision-making process, at crucial stages of decision-making and in follow up to the
measures taken. Such assessments should be conducted with the participation of children and
due weight should be given to their views and those of thematic experts. The findings should
be published in child-friendly language and in the languages that children use.
C.
Children’s rights and the business sector
78.
Businesses have the responsibility to respect children’s rights in relation to the
environment. States have the obligation to protect against the abuse of child rights by third
parties, including business enterprises.
21
79.
Business activity is a source of significant environmental damage, contributing to
child rights abuses. Such damage results, for example, from the production, use, release and
disposal of hazardous and toxic substances, the extraction and burning of fossil fuels,
19
20
21
General comment No. 19 (2016) on public budgeting for the realization of children’s rights, para. 75.
A/HRC/37/58,
paras. 56 and 57.
General comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on
children’s rights, paras. 28, 42 and 82.
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industrial air and water pollution and unsustainable agriculture and fishing practices.
Businesses contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, which adversely affect
children’s rights, and to short- and long-term infringements of their rights linked to the
consequences of climate change. The impacts of business activities and operations may
undermine the ability of children and their families to adapt to the impacts of climate change,
for example, where land has been degraded, thereby exacerbating climate stress. States
should strengthen the realization of children’s rights by sharing and making accessible
existing technologies and exerting influence on business operations and value chains to
prevent, mitigate and adapt to climate change.
80.
States have obligations to provide a framework to ensure that businesses respect
children’s rights through effective, child-sensitive legislation, regulation, enforcement and
policies and remedial, monitoring, coordination, collaboration and awareness-raising
measures. States should require businesses to undertake child rights due diligence procedures
to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for their impact on the environment and children’s
rights. Such due diligence is a risk-based process that involves focusing efforts where the
risks from environmental damage are severe and likely to materialize, paying special
attention to the risk exposure of certain groups of children, such as working children.
Immediate steps should be taken in the event that children are identified as victims to prevent
further harm to their health and development and to adequately and effectively repair the
damage done in a timely and effective manner.
81.
The Committee recommends the development by businesses, in partnership with
stakeholders, including children, of due diligence procedures that integrate children’s rights
impact assessments into their operations. Marketing standards should ensure that businesses
do not mislead consumers, in particular children, through practices of green-washing or
green-sheening, by which businesses falsely portray efforts to prevent or mitigate
environmental harm.
D.
Access to justice and remedies
82.
Effective remedies should be available to redress violations and promote social
justice.
22
Despite children having been at the vanguard of several environmental and climate
change cases and their recognition under the Convention as rights holders, children, due to
their status, encounter barriers to attaining legal standing in many States, thereby limiting
their means of asserting their rights in the environmental context.
83.
States should provide access to justice pathways for children, including complaint
mechanisms that are child-friendly, gender-responsive and disability-inclusive, to ensure
their engagement with effective judicial, quasi-judicial and non-judicial mechanisms,
including child-centred national human rights institutions, for violations of their rights
relating to environmental harm. This includes removing barriers for children to initiate
proceedings themselves, adjusting the rules of standing and empowering national human
rights institutions with mandates to receive complaints from children.
84.
Mechanisms should be available for claims of imminent or foreseeable harms and past
or current violations of children’s rights. States should ensure that these mechanisms are
readily available to all children under their jurisdiction, without discrimination, including
children outside their territory affected by transboundary harm resulting from States’ acts or
omissions occurring within their territories.
85.
States should provide for collective complaints, such as class action suits and public
interest litigation,
23
and extend the limitation periods regarding violations of children’s rights
due to environmental harm.
86.
The complexity of cases involving environmental harm due to transboundary effects,
causation and cumulative impacts necessitates effective legal representation. Litigation is
22
23
General comment No. 5 (2003) on general measures of implementation of the Convention, para. 24;
and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2 (3).
General comment No. 16 (2013), para. 68; and general comment No. 25 (2021), para. 44.
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often a lengthy process, and supranational bodies generally require the exhaustion of
domestic remedies prior to filing a complaint. Children should have access to free legal and
other appropriate assistance, including legal aid and effective legal representation, and be
provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial or administrative proceedings affecting
them. States should consider additional measures to lower the costs for children seeking
remedies, for example, through protection from adverse cost orders, to limit the financial risk
to children who bring cases in the public interest regarding environmental matters.
87.
To enhance accountability and promote children’s access to justice in environmental
matters, States should explore options for shifting the onerous burden of proof from child
plaintiffs to establish causation in the face of numerous variables and information deficits.
88.
Children may face particular difficulties in obtaining remedies in cases involving
business enterprises that may be causing or contributing to abuses of their rights, especially
concerning transboundary and global impacts. States have an obligation to establish non-
judicial and judicial mechanisms to provide access to effective remedies for abuses of
children’s rights by business enterprises, including as a result of their extraterritorial activities
and operations, provided that there is a reasonable link between the State and the conduct
concerned. In line with international standards, businesses are expected to establish or
participate in effective grievance mechanisms for children who have been victims of such
abuses of their rights. States should also ensure the availability of regulatory agencies,
monitor abuses and provide adequate remedies for violations of children’s rights related to
environmental harm.
89.
Appropriate reparation includes restitution, adequate compensation, satisfaction,
rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition, with regard to both the environment and the
children affected, including access to medical and psychological assistance. Remedial
mechanisms should consider the specific vulnerabilities of children to the effects of
environmental degradation, including the possible irreversibility and lifelong nature of the
harm. Reparation should be swift, to limit ongoing and future violations. The application of
novel forms of remedy is encouraged, such as orders to establish intergenerational
committees, in which children are active participants, to determine and oversee the
expeditious implementation of measures to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate
change.
90.
Access to applicable international and regional human rights mechanisms should be
available, including through ratification of the Optional Protocol on a communications
procedure. Information about such mechanisms and how to use them should be made widely
known to children, parents, caregivers and professionals working with and for children.
E.
International cooperation
91.
States have an obligation to take action, separately and jointly, through international
cooperation, to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights. Article 4 of the Convention
emphasizes that the implementation of the Convention is a cooperative exercise for the States
of the world,
24
and the full realization of children’s rights under the Convention is in part
contingent upon how States interact. Climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss clearly
represent urgent examples of global threats to children’s rights that require States to work
together, calling for the widest possible cooperation by all countries and their participation
in an effective and appropriate international response.
25
The obligations of international
cooperation of each State depends in part on its situation. In the context of climate change,
such obligations are appropriately guided by taking into account the historical and current
emissions of greenhouse gases and the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities
and States’ respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances,
26
while
requiring the provision of technical and financial assistance from developed States to
24
25
26
General comment No. 5 (2003), para. 60.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, preamble; and Human Rights Council
resolutions 26/27 and 29/15.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, preamble and art. 3 (1); Paris Agreement,
art. 2 (2); and Human Rights Council resolutions 26/27 and 29/15.
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developing States consistent with article 4 of the Convention. States should engage in
international cooperation to ensure the conformity of standards for developing and
implementing children’s rights and environmental due diligence procedures.
92.
In general, developed States have committed to supporting action to address the
intersecting global environmental challenges in developing countries by facilitating the
transfer of green technology and contributing to financing environmental measures, in line
with internationally agreed climate and biodiversity finance goals. The Convention should
be a core consideration in global environmental decisions, including in States’ international
mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage strategies.
27
The environment-related
programmes of donor States should be rights-based, while States that receive international
environmental finance and assistance should consider allocating a substantive part of that aid
specifically to child-focused programmes. Implementation guidelines should be reviewed
and updated to take into account the child rights obligations of States.
93.
States should ensure that environmental measures supported by international
environmental finance mechanisms and international organizations respect, protect and
proactively seek to fulfil children’s rights. States should integrate standards and procedures
to assess the risk of harm to children into the planning and implementation of new
environment-related projects and take measures to mitigate the risks of harm, in compliance
with the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto. States should cooperate to support
the establishment and implementation of procedures and mechanisms to provide access to
effective remedies for violations of children’s rights in this context.
94.
States should cooperate in good faith in the establishment and funding of global
responses to address environmental harm suffered by people in vulnerable situations, paying
particular attention to safeguarding the rights of children in the light of their specific
vulnerabilities to environment-related risks and addressing the devastating impact of both
sudden- and slow-onset forms of climate disruption on children, their communities and their
nations. States should cooperate to invest in conflict prevention and efforts to sustain peace
that will positively contribute to mitigating any environmental harm to children that could
result from armed conflict and should consider the views of children in peacemaking and
peacebuilding.
V. Climate change
A.
Mitigation
95.
The Committee calls for urgent collective action by all States to mitigate greenhouse
gas emissions, in line with their human rights obligations. In particular, historical and current
major emitters should take the lead in mitigation efforts.
96.
Insufficient progress in achieving international commitments to limit global warming
exposes children to continuous and rapidly increasing harms associated with greater
concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting temperature increases.
Scientists warn about tipping points, which are thresholds beyond which certain effects can
no longer be avoided, posing dire and uncertain risks to children’s rights. Avoiding tipping
points requires urgent and ambitious action to reduce atmospheric concentrations of
greenhouse gases.
97.
Mitigation objectives and measures should be based on the best available science and
be regularly reviewed to ensure a pathway to net zero carbon emissions at the latest by 2050
in a manner that prevents harm to children. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
has illustrated that it is imperative to accelerate mitigation efforts in the near term, to limit
the temperature increase to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and that international
cooperation, equity and rights-based approaches are critical to achieving ambitious climate
change mitigation goals.
28
27
28
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, art. 4 (5); and Paris Agreement, art. 9 (1).
See https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/.
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98.
When determining the appropriateness of their mitigation measures in accordance
with the Convention, and also mindful of the need to prevent and address any potential
adverse effects of those measures, States should take into account the following criteria:
(a)
Mitigation objectives and measures should clearly indicate how they respect,
protect and fulfil children’s rights under the Convention. States should transparently and
explicitly focus on children’s rights when preparing, communicating and updating nationally
determined contributions.
29
This obligation extends to other processes, including biennial
transparency reports, international assessments and reviews and international consultations
and analyses;
30
(b)
States have an individual responsibility to mitigate climate change in order to
fulfil their obligations under the Convention and international environmental law, including
the commitment contained in the Paris Agreement to hold the increase in the global average
temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the
temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2030.
31
Mitigation measures
should reflect each State party’s fair share of the global effort to mitigate climate change, in
the light of the total reductions necessary to protect against continuing and worsening
violations of children’s rights. Each State, and all States working together, should
continuously strengthen climate commitments in line with the highest possible ambition and
their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities. High-income
States should continue to take the lead by undertaking economy-wide absolute emission
reduction targets, and all States should enhance their mitigation measures in the light of their
different national circumstances in a manner that protects children’s rights to the maximum
possible extent;
32
(c)
Successive mitigation measures and updated pledges should represent the
efforts of States in a progression over time,
33
keeping in mind that the time frame for
preventing catastrophic climate change and harm to children’s rights is shorter and requires
urgent action;
(d)
Short-term mitigation measures should take into consideration the fact that
delaying a rapid phase out of fossil fuels will result in higher cumulative emissions and
thereby greater foreseeable harm to children’s rights;
(e)
Mitigation measures cannot rely on removing greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere in the future through unproven technologies. States should prioritize rapid and
effective emissions reductions now in order to support children’s full enjoyment of their
rights in the shortest possible period of time and to avoid irreversible damage to nature.
34
99.
States should discontinue subsidies to public or private actors for investments in
activities and infrastructure that are inconsistent with low greenhouse gas emission pathways,
as a mitigation measure to prevent further damage and risk.
100. Developed States should assist developing countries in planning and implementing
mitigation measures, in order to help children in vulnerable situations. The assistance could
include providing financial and technical expertise and information and other capacity-
building measures that specifically contribute to the prevention of harm to children caused
by climate change.
35
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Paris Agreement, art. 4 (2).
Ibid., art. 14 (4).
Ibid., art. 2 (1) (a); and
Sacchi et al. v. Argentina
(CRC/C/88/D/104/2019), para. 10.6. See also
Sacchi
et al. v. Brazil
(CRC/C/88/D/105/2019),
Sacchi et al. v. France
(CRC/C/88/D/106/2019) and
Sacchi
et al. v. Germany
(CRC/C/88/D/107/2019) and
Sacchi et al. v. Turkey
(CRC/C/88/D/108/2019).
Paris Agreement, art. 4 (4).
Ibid., arts. 3 and 4 (3).
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, arts. 4 (1) (h)–(j) and (2) (b); and Paris
Agreement, preamble and arts. 4 (8), 12 and 13.
Paris Agreement, art. 13 (9).
17
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B.
Adaptation
101. Since climate change-related impacts on children’s rights are intensifying, a sharp and
urgent increase in the design and implementation of child-sensitive, gender-responsive and
disability-inclusive adaptation measures and associated resources is necessary. States should
identify climate change-related vulnerabilities among children concerning the availability,
quality, equity and sustainability of essential services for children, such as water and
sanitation, health care, protection, nutrition and education. States should enhance the climate
resilience of their legal and institutional frameworks and ensure that their national adaptation
plans and existing social, environmental and budgetary policies address climate change-
related risk factors by assisting children within their jurisdiction to adapt to the unavoidable
effects of climate change. Examples of such measures include strengthening child protection
systems in risk-prone contexts, providing adequate access to water, sanitation and health care,
as well as safe school environments, and strengthening social safety nets and protection
frameworks, while giving priority to children’s right to life, survival and development.
Healthy ecosystems and biodiversity also play an important role in supporting resilience and
disaster risk reduction.
102. In adaptation measures, including disaster risk reduction, preparedness, response and
recovery measures, due weight should be given to the views of children. Children should be
equipped to understand the effects of climate-related decisions on their rights and have
opportunities to meaningfully and effectively participate in decision-making processes.
Neither the design nor the implementation of adaptation measures should discriminate
against groups of children at heightened risk, such as young children, girls, children with
disabilities, children in situations of migration, Indigenous children and children in situations
of poverty or armed conflict. States should take additional measures to ensure that children
in vulnerable situations affected by climate change enjoy their rights, including by addressing
the underlying causes of vulnerability.
103. Adaptation measures should be targeted at reducing both the short-term and the long-
term impacts, such as by sustaining livelihoods, protecting schools and developing
sustainable water management systems. Measures that are necessary to protect children’s
rights to life and health from imminent threats, such as extreme weather events, include
establishing early warning systems and increasing the physical safety and resilience of
infrastructure, including school, water and sanitation and health infrastructure, to reduce the
risk of climate change-related hazards. States should adopt emergency response plans, such
as measures to provide inclusive early warning systems, humanitarian assistance and access
to food and water and sanitation for all. In formulating adaptive measures, the relevant
national and international standards, such as those contained in the Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, should also be considered. Adaptation frameworks
should address climate change-induced migration and displacement and include provisions
for ensuring a child rights-based approach to these issues. In the event of imminent threats of
climate change-related harm, such as extreme weather events, States should ensure the
immediate dissemination of all information that would enable children and their caregivers
and communities to take protective measures. States should strengthen awareness among
children and their communities of disaster risk reduction and prevention measures.
C.
Loss and damage
104. In the Paris Agreement, the parties addressed the importance of averting, minimizing
and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change.
Through a human rights lens, the adverse impacts of climate change have led to significant
losses and damages, in particular for those in the developing world.
105. The manner in which climate-related loss and damage affect children and their rights
may be both direct and indirect. Direct impacts include instances where both sudden-onset
extreme weather events, such as floods and heavy rains, and slow-onset events, such as
droughts, lead to the violation of rights under the Convention. Indirect impacts may include
situations in which States, communities and parents are forced to reallocate resources away
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from intended programmes, such as those for education and health care, towards addressing
environmental crises.
106. In this respect, it is critical to acknowledge loss and damage as a third pillar of climate
action, along with mitigation and adaptation. States are encouraged to take note that, from a
human rights perspective, loss and damage are closely related to the right to remedy and the
principle of reparations, including restitution, compensation and rehabilitation.
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States
should undertake measures, including through international cooperation, to provide financial
and technical assistance for addressing loss and damage that have an impact on the enjoyment
of the rights under the Convention.
D.
Business and climate change
107. States must take all necessary, appropriate and reasonable measures to protect against
harms to children’s rights related to climate change that are caused or perpetuated by business
enterprises, while businesses have the responsibility to respect children’s rights in relation to
climate change. States should ensure that businesses rapidly reduce their emissions and
should require businesses, including financial institutions, to conduct environmental impact
assessments and children’s rights due diligence procedures to ensure that they identify,
prevent, mitigate and account for how they address actual and potential adverse climate
change-related impacts on children’s rights, including those resulting from production-
related and consumption-related activities and those connected to their value chains and
global operations.
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108. Home States have obligations to address any harm and climate change-related risks to
children’s rights in the context of business enterprises’ extraterritorial activities and
operations, provided that there is a reasonable link between the State and the conduct
concerned, and should enable access to effective remedies for rights violations. This includes
cooperation to ensure the compliance of business enterprises operating transnationally with
applicable environmental standards aimed at protecting children’s rights from climate
change-related harm and the provision of international assistance and cooperation with
investigations and enforcement of proceedings in other States.
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109. States should incentivize sustainable investment in and use of renewable energy,
energy storage and energy efficiency, in particular by State-owned or controlled enterprises
and those that receive substantial support and services from State agencies. States should
enforce progressive taxation schemes and adopt strict sustainability requirements for public
procurement contracts.
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States can also encourage community control over the generation,
management, transmission and distribution of energy to increase access to and the
affordability of renewable technology and the provision of sustainable energy products and
services, in particular at the community level.
110. States should ensure that their obligations under trade or investment agreements do
not impede their ability to meet their human rights obligations and that such agreements
promote rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other measures to mitigate the
causes and effects of climate change, including through the facilitation of investment in
renewable energy.
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The climate change-related impacts on children’s rights connected to the
implementation of the agreements should be regularly assessed, allowing for corrective
measures, as appropriate.
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A/77/226,
para. 26.
General comment No. 16 (2013), para. 62.
Ibid., paras. 43 and 44.
Ibid., para. 27.
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 24 (2017) on State
obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the context
of business activities, para. 13.
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E.
Climate finance
111. Both international climate finance providers and recipient States should ensure that
climate finance mechanisms are anchored in a child rights-based approach aligned with the
Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto. States should ensure that any climate finance
mechanisms uphold and do not violate children’s rights, increase policy coherence between
children’s rights obligations and other objectives, such as economic development, and
strengthen the demarcation of roles of various stakeholders in climate finance, such as
Governments, financial institutions, including banks, businesses and affected communities,
especially children.
112. In line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective
capabilities, States’ national circumstances need to be taken into account in efforts to address
climate change. Developed States should cooperate with developing States in providing
climate finance for climate action that upholds children’s rights, in line with the international
climate-related commitments that States have made. In particular, despite the link between
various financing mechanisms, including on sustainable development, climate finance
provided by developed States should be transparent, additional to other financial flows that
support children’s rights and properly accounted for, including by avoiding tracking
challenges such as double counting.
113. Developed States need to urgently and collectively address the current climate finance
gap. The current distribution of climate finance, which is overly slanted towards mitigation
at the cost of adaptation and loss and damage measures, has discriminatory effects on children
who reside in settings where more adaptation measures are needed and children who are
confronted with the limitations of adaptation. States should bridge the global climate finance
gap and ensure that measures are financed in a balanced manner with consideration given to
measures on adaptation, mitigation, loss and damage and broader means of implementation,
such as technical assistance and capacity-building. The determination by States of the total
global climate finance required should be informed by the documented needs of communities,
especially to protect children and their rights. Climate finance provided to developing
countries should be in the form of grants, rather than loans, to avoid negative impacts on
children’s rights.
114. States should ensure and facilitate access for affected communities, especially
children, to information on activities supported by climate finance, including possibilities to
lodge complaints alleging violations of children’s rights. States should devolve decision-
making on climate finance to strengthen the participation of beneficiary communities,
especially children, and make the approval and execution of climate finance subject to a child
rights impact assessment to prevent and address the financing of measures that could lead to
the violation of children’s rights.
115. Children are calling for the collective action of States. According to two children
consulted for the present general comment: “The Governments of each country should
cooperate to reduce climate change.” “They need to acknowledge us and say, ‘we hear you;
here is what we are going to do about this problem’.”
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See https://childrightsenvironment.org/reports/.
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