Inaction on climate change – A violation of children's rights
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 24 January 2022 (2nd sitting) (see Doc. 15436, report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and
Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Ms Jennifer De Temmerman). Text adopted by the Assembly on 24 January
2022 (2nd sitting).See also Recommendation 2219 (2022).
1. The climate crisis is threatening
the future of humanity and is already hitting the most vulnerable particularly
hard. As extreme climatic events become more frequent, intense and
devastating, 2.2 billion children worldwide are increasingly deprived
of their fundamental rights, including the rights to health, food, water,
shelter and quality education. According to the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF), nearly 1 billion children live in areas exposed to
an extremely high risk of impact from climate change and environmental
degradation, which could kill 250 000 children additionally each
year between now and 2100.
2. The lack of effective action to tackle climate change constitutes
a violation of children’s rights as set out in the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This concerns, in
particular, the right to life, development, health, medical care,
care and education, a good standard of living, information, protection and
assistance.
3. While all Council of Europe member States have ratified both
the UNCRC and the Paris Agreement on climate change, they face considerable
challenges in the implementation of these texts. Air pollution,
in particular, is an omnipresent, massive and constant threat to
children’s health that stems largely from human activities and greenhouse
gas emissions, which also contribute to climate change. The world’s
children are anxious about the prospect of deadly global warming
and demand to be associated with action against climate change.
They are concerned with the lack, or slow pace, of progress as regards
the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), including Goal 13 on the fight against climate change, which requires
wide-ranging changes in policies and society’s way of life.
4. The Parliamentary Assembly appreciates the readiness of the
world’s children to be actors of change and transformation in society.
In this context, it recalls its
Resolution 2396 (2021) and
Recommendation 2211 (2021) “Anchoring
the right to a healthy environment: need for enhanced action by
the Council of Europe” and stresses the need for member States to
shoulder their shared responsibility and act in concert to advance
a new generation of rights in order to better safeguard the well-being
of both current and future generations. Unless they do so, member
States will continue to be subjected to environmental litigation
by today’s children and young people who seek climate justice, and
rightly so.
5. The Assembly acknowledges a widespread and deep-seated existential
angst – eco-anxiety – among children, which is driven by a sense
of helplessness and disappointment with adults’ failure to tackle
climate change more decisively and earlier. It believes that society
should listen to children more carefully and involve them in the
preparation of policies and measures to combat climate change at
every level of governance. The Assembly underscores the special
role schools and education systems play in informing children about ecological
challenges and equipping them with tools for civic and pro-climate
action. However, the responsibility to act to fight climate change
lies with adults, not children.
6. The Assembly welcomes the decision of the United Nations Human
Rights Council recognising the right to a safe, clean, healthy and
sustainable environment as a fundamental human right. It also hails
the ruling of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the
Child establishing that a State Party to the UNCRC can be held responsible
for the harmful effects of its carbon emissions on the rights of
children on its territory and beyond, thus effectively highlighting
States’ individual and shared responsibility for climate action
and better protection of children’s best interests.
7. To meet children’s desire for participation in decision making,
the Assembly commits to dialogue with children on climate action
and protection of the environment, including via the outreach activities
of its parliamentary network on the topic, which is being launched
in early 2022. The Assembly shall also seek to foster children’s
participation in democratic debates on climate change at international
and European level and via national, regional and local parliamentary
activities. The aim is to replace the current sense of intergenerational
distrust with a spirit of co-operation that would open the door
to including children in other debates of relevance to them in a
meaningful way, as suggested also in
Resolution 2414 (2022) “The right
to be heard – Child participation: a foundation for democratic societies”.
8. The Assembly is convinced that, in the fight against climate
change, the challenge of preserving a viable environment must be
combined with the need to uphold the human rights of all generations.
In order to ensure a sustainable future for the world’s children,
it therefore puts forward the following recommendations, based on its
own work and consultations with children, to member States, urging
them to:
8.1 honour their international
commitments to combat climate change and implement the rights of
the child as set out in the SDGs, the Paris Agreement and the UNCRC;
8.2 work together towards anchoring the human right to a safe,
clean, healthy and sustainable environment through national, European
and international legal instruments according to the proposals contained
in Assembly
Resolution
2396 (2021) and
Recommendation
2211 (2021) “Anchoring the right to a healthy environment:
need for enhanced action by the Council of Europe” and
Resolution 2399 (2021) and
Recommendation 2214 (2021) “The
climate crisis and the rule of law”, in order to establish transgenerational
responsibility for the preservation of the environment and new remedies
for children;
8.3 collaborate with a view to establishing an international
legal status for environmental refugees and protecting the victims
of forced migration due to climate change and environmental degradation,
in particular children;
8.4 keep the promises of financial assistance and sharing
of their knowledge (technical and technological) with regard to
the poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries to help them adapt
to climate change, reduce its adverse effects on children and cope
with the ecological crisis;
8.5 strengthen international co-operation in the protection
of the rights of the child and of future generations and encourage
the contribution of civil society organisations and businesses in
order to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change on young
populations;
8.6 take immediate action in the face of the climate crisis,
according to national capacities, in the interest of the rights
of the child and of future generations, including by systematically
assessing the impact of relevant legislation and policies on children
and future generations in terms of the right to a safe, clean, healthy
and sustainable environment;
8.7 give priority to climate change adaptation policies favouring
the resilience of children to climate change and initiatives to
improve the quality of life and health of children, notably via
the development of resilient and green infrastructures in schools,
a sustainable energy supply, the establishment of “zero emissions”
zones around childcare centres and schools, the obligation to use
short supply routes for food products and the promotion of “good
for the planet” meals in schools;
8.8 take strong measures to reduce the exposure of children
to air pollution in accordance with
Resolution 2286 (2019) “Air pollution:
a challenge for public health in Europe”;
8.9 recognise children as agents of change in the climate
crisis through a top-down and bottom-up approach by involving children
in decision making and promoting children’s participation through
the establishment of consultation mechanisms (advocacy, exchange
platforms, etc.);
8.10 guarantee the right of children to be heard by promoting
the lowering and alignment of the legal voting age;
8.11 strengthen children’s right to information and education
in environmental matters in order to enable them to understand the
challenges of the ecological crisis and climate change and to equip
them with tools, knowledge and skills enabling their participation
in the ecological transition and making them more aware of the need
to respect nature, living creatures and the Earth;
8.12 continue this educational effort towards ecological problem
solving in all higher education training courses (professional and
university, all sectors combined) in order to equip young citizens
with the know-how and “green conscience” to allow them to make enlightened
and intelligent choices, especially in terms of consumption.
9. The Assembly asks national parliaments to use their existing
child participation and consultation mechanisms or to set up new
ones, as appropriate, in order to ensure that children can contribute
meaningfully to the drafting of policies and legislation so as to
mainstream climate change action throughout various sectors. It
resolves to involve children in its work relating to climate change
and environmental challenges, including through the committees concerned,
in conformity with its
Resolution
2414 (2022). It also welcomes the reflection initiated
by the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy on the participation
of young people in the work of the Assembly. Finally, the Assembly
encourages national parliaments to support and facilitate children’s
participation in the European Climate Pact, an initiative of the
European Union.
