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Committee on the Rights of the Child

Committee on the Rights of the Child

Committee on the Rights of the Child: Youth Participate in “Children’s Rights and the Environment” Day of Discussion

 

 

For Immediate Release

August 25, 2016

Contact: Meg Ward, Our Children’s Trust, 503-341-8590, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Youth Recommend Science-Based Climate Standard to

UN Committee on Rights of the Child

Youth Participate in “Children’s Rights and the Environment” Day of Discussion

Geneva – Today, youth made a formal submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

With the support of Our Children’s Trust (OCT), Earth Guardians, and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, youth are requesting the Committee set a science-based standard for governments around the world to meet in order to protect fundamental and inalienable human rights of young people and future generations.

Youth’s submission is part of their participation in the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Day of Discussion on “Children’s Rights and the Environment.” The conference’s goals include clarifying the obligations of States regarding the rights of the child in relation to climate change and providing recommendations to States on how to ensure that child-sensitive policies, laws, and practices protect the environment and uphold the rights of children. Youth are calling for the world’s governments to cease actions that are causing climate change and resulting in violations of children’s rights as articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Rekha Dhillon-Richardson, a 17-year-old plaintiff in a lawsuit supported by Our Children’s Trust against the Pennsylvania state government, says that the Committee has the “chance to do something really meaningful and powerful. The most important thing this body can do is set a standard for protecting the rights of my generation and future generations from climate chaos.” Dhillon-Richardson will be presenting at the Day of Discussion in Geneva about how children disproportionately suffer from climate change impacts and the urgent need for comprehensive science-based government action to prevent catastrophic climate destabilization. Dhillon-Richardson and six youth co-plaintiffs are currently appealing the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania’s dismissal of their lawsuit, arguing that the government defendants have a constitutional obligation to protect the public natural resources that they rely on for their well-being and survival by adequately reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In their submission, youth provide a scientific standard for State obligations to children and future generations with respect to climate change. If adopted by the Committee, the standard would be “a touchstone for courts and political bodies of the world.” The submission calls for global emission reductions to return global atmospheric CO2 levels to below 350 ppm by 2100 and stabilize the long-term average global temperature increase at no higher than 1 °C.

Youth note in the submission that this scientific standard is necessary because “the non-binding emission reduction pledges made by States in the run up to the Paris Climate Agreement would likely result in an increase in emissions through 2030 and cause climate warming of around 2.7 ºC, a temperature increase deemed catastrophic by experts, far above the 1 °C-maximum scientific standard of protection and climate stabilization identified by scientists.” Thus, “the failure of States to cease supporting [greenhouse gas] emitting industries and to implement comprehensive, science-based climate recovery plans represents an ongoing violation of nearly all of the rights possessed by children under the CRC. These threats [from increasing climate instability] will only intensify for future generations of children, who may never have a chance of realizing their CRC rights, unless States step in now to curtail emissions and restore natural sequestration services of plants and soil in line with the scientific standard of climate recovery.”

The world’s leading climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, is submitting a declaration in support of the youth’s submission. In his declaration, Dr. Hansen notes, “sovereign governments around the world are on the verge of collectively imposing an overwhelming burden – intergenerational injustice in the extreme – upon young people and future generations who stand to inherit a climate system that is not at all conducive to their well-being or survival, as guaranteed under the Convention [on the Rights of the Child], through no fault of their own.”

“All developed nation states should be doing no less than the global average emission reductions required to return atmospheric CO2 to a safe level of below 350 ppm by 2100,” said Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel at Our Children’s Trust. “In fact, those who have caused the lion’s share of the problem and have the wealth to transition more quickly should be declining at a more rapid pace and providing technological and financial assistance to other countries.”

Dhillon-Richardson and Our Children’s Trust Board President Kelly Matheson will be presenting at the Day of General Discussion: “Children’s Rights and the Environment,” which takes place on 23 September 2016 - 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Room XIX, Palais des Nations, Geneva.

Our Children's Trust is a nonprofit organization, elevating the voice of youth, those with most to lose, to secure the legal right to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate on behalf of present and future generations. We lead a global human rights and environmental justice campaign to implement enforceable science-based Climate Recovery Plans that will return atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to levels below 350 ppm. www.ourchildrenstrust.org/

Earth Guardians is a Colorado-based nonprofit organization with youth chapters on five continents, and multiple groups in the United States with thousands of members working together to protect the Earth, the water, the air, and the atmosphere, creating healthy sustainable communities globally. We inspire and empower young leaders, families, schools, organizations, cities, and government officials to make positive change locally, nationally, and globally to address the critical state of the Earth. www.earthguardians.org

The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a non-profit organization using the human rights framework and mechanisms to catalyze social change through leveraging of strategic spaces. This is work that we undertake in close partnership with local partners and advocates from around the world.  www.globalinitiative-escr.org

 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.