Joint Statement to Human Rights Council: Realize Children’s Right to a Healthy Environment

March 4, 2021
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The Joint Statement is also accessible at the Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative (CERI) website here.

On 4 March 2021, the Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative (CERI), Child Rights Connect Working Group on Child Rights and the Environment (in which CRC Asia is a member), and Terre des Hommes delivered a joint statement for the interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment at the Human Rights Council’s 46th Session. It draws attention to the relationship between children’s rights and the environment and calls on governments to recognize the right to a healthy environment, a step of particular relevance to children and future generations. Over 90 organizations across the world have endorsed the statement. This is reaffirmed by the calls of thousands worldwide during a Tweetstorm, alongside a high-level event, including the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Executive Director of UNICEF, and Executive Director of UNEP, on 23 February. All with the message: #TheTimeIsNow to recognize our right to a healthy environment! 

Realising children’s right to a healthy environment

This statement is made on behalf of the Child Rights Connect Working Group on child rights and the environment and the Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative.

No group is more vulnerable to environmental harm than children. The numbers are truly shocking. More than 1.7 million children under the age of five lose their lives every year as a result of avoidable environmental impacts, while millions more suffer disease and permanent forms of harm. We welcome the focus on children’s rights in the latest report from the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, which states that every day, more than 700 children under the age of five die from water- and sanitation-related disasters. By 2040, almost 600 million children will live in regions with extremely limited water resources. From toxic water pollution and chemicals, to the climate crisis and global biodiversity loss, environmental risks pose grave and wide-ranging threats to children’s rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, with particular burdens faced by children facing intersecting forms of discrimination and marginalisation, including girls, children with disabilities, indigenous children and those living in poverty.

Although this has been widely documented in the past couple of years, there is still a gap in the recognition of the links between environmental harm and children’s rights. Children are not sufficiently recognised as holders of environmental rights; violations of their rights in relation to environmental breakdown are still underreported and are not met with adequate remedies. Strong normative standards to advance children’s environmental rights are missing.

The UN should formally recognise the right to a healthy environment as soon as possible. It would provide comprehensive protection against environmental harm, spur all states to prioritize actions to implement this vital human right and empower those working to protect the environment. Such a step would be of particular relevance to children and future generations, who shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden of environmental harm. It is beyond debate that children are wholly dependent on the natural environment to lead dignified, healthy and fulfilling lives, including a safe climate, clean air, safe water and adequate sanitation, healthy and sustainably produced food, non-toxic environments to learn and play in, and healthy biodiversity and ecosystems. In the face of an unprecedented environmental crisis, children and youth across the world are calling for more urgent and ambitious action.

SIGNATORIES

  1. Advocacy For Child Justice (ACJ)
  2. Advocates of Hope Zimbabwe
  3. AFCOD-UGANDA
  4. Africa Movement of Working Children and Youth
  5. Alliance for Health Promotion
  6. Association des Citoyens pour le Développement Durable en Haïti
  7. Awometrust
  8. Burundi Child Rights Forum
  9. Centre for Children’s Rights, Queen’s University, Belfast
  10. Centre for Environment and Rural Development
  11. Child Rights Coalition Asia
  12. Child Rights Connect
  13. Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
  14. Childline
  15. Children and Young People Living for Peace (CYPLP)
  16. Children and Youth Movement – Philippines
  17. Children Rights Advocacy and Legal Aid Foundation (CRALAF)
  18. Climate Warriors India
  19. Collective Community Action
  20. Community Transformation Foundation Network (COTFONE)
  21. Connecting
  22. CRN COMMITTEE
  23. Environment Africa
  24. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Kenya
  25. Gatef organizations
  26. Give Hope Uganda
  27. Green Institute
  28. How Impact
  29. Human Rights Watch
  30. Humanium
  31. IAM Mbare Youth Development Centre
  32. International Institute for Child Rights and Development
  33. Joy Village Foundation
  34. Kiambu county CHV CBO
  35. Kishoka Youth Community Based Organization
  36. Kiwangala Community Early Childhood Development Centre
  37. Kiwangala Community Library
  38. Kiwangala Community Primary School
  39. Kiwangala Community Social Initiatives
  40. Let Girls Learn Kenya Initiative
  41. Letsema Child Right Ambassadors
  42. Letsema Child Rights Network
  43. Livingstone Rhinos Rugby Union Club
  44. LRC ambassadors
  45. Make Mothers Matter
  46. Manyatta Development is Power
  47. MDT
  48. MenEngage Uganda Network
  49. Midlands AIDS Services Organisation
  50. Midlands State University
  51. Midlands State University Environmental Society(MSUES)
  52. Mtoto News
  53. Mubimba Primary School
  54. Mwanakwaye Movement
  55. Nest Foundation
  56. New Zimbabwe Youth Forum
  57. Pahchan Foundation
  58. Panos Institute Southern Africa
  59. PIVJET International
  60. Plan International
  61. Rede de jovens
  62. REPSSI
  63. Retsepile Support and Development Group
  64. Revival NGO
  65. RNCYPT
  66. Save the Children
  67. SGE Initiatives
  68. Soka Gakkai International (SGI)
  69. Somero
  70. Sonke Gender Justice
  71. SOS Children’s Villages – Eswatini
  72. Strive Foundation Uganda
  73. SUHAKAM – Human Rights Commission Malaysia
  74. TERRE DES HOMMES
  75. The B Team
  76. The Boys Brigade Nigeria
  77. The Community Human Rights Defenders Network (ACPDH)
  78. The Conscientization Movement
  79. The Future Generations Project
  80. Trinity Project
  81. TROVOCO
  82. University Student Chamber International
  83. UNMGCY
  84. Village of Hope for Development and Rehabilitaton for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
  85. Vunja Kimya Foundation
  86. World Vision International
  87. Young People’s Network on Sexual Reproductive Health on HIV and AIDS, Zvishavane
  88. Young Voices Trust
  89. YOUNGO
  90. Youth Environment Service
  91. Youth Network for Positive Change
  92. Zambia Civic Education Association
  93. Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association
  94. Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association Youth Network