Children's rights organizations are calling for a new beginning in climate and environmental protection
Berlin, April 16, 2024: The UN Guidelines on the Right of Children to a Healthy Environment are available in German for the first time. To mark the publication, the children's rights organization terre des hommes and the children's rights network National Coalition Germany are calling on the German government to take more decisive action to protect the livelihoods of children and future generations worldwide.
The guidelines are based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Federal Republic of Germany has also ratified. In September 2023, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child first presented the so-called "General Comment No. 26," thereby deriving an independent right of children to a healthy environment from the Convention and clarifying that states must act promptly and decisively to limit global warming, curb pollution, and halt species extinction. Existing children's rights, such as the right to life, survival, and development, also entail far-reaching obligations.
“Climate change and environmental pollution threaten children’s rights on an unprecedented global scale,” says Joshua Hofert, Head of Communications and Spokesperson for terre des hommes Germany. “The Committee on the Rights of the Child is now taking this into account and clearly stating: If states do not act immediately, they are responsible for the consequences – even beyond their borders and extending to future generations. An industrialized nation like Germany, which has contributed disproportionately to global warming compared to other countries, must live up to this responsibility.”
terre des hommes and the National Coalition Germany intend to examine in the coming weeks to what extent the guidelines can be used to draw conclusions for concrete political decisions in Germany. The General Comment already explicitly outlines several recommendations for action:
“General Comment No. 26 unequivocally points out that states that bear the greatest responsibility for climate change must also do more to combat it. Children’s rights apply to everyone, but children in the Global South are particularly affected by environmental and climate damage. It cannot be that they will have to foot the bill for our <sub>CO2</sub> emissions in the future,” said Bianka Pergande, spokesperson for the National Coalition Germany.
The implementation of the General Comment in Germany will kick off tomorrow with a joint event with representatives of the United Nations in Berlin. During a panel discussion, Velina Todorova, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and Maya-Natuk Rohmann Fleischer, member of the Children's Advisory Board on General Comment No. 26, among others, will present their perspectives on its implementation in Germany.
“When it comes to the future of our planet, there should be no excuses,” said Rohmann Fleischer ahead of the event. “That’s why the voices of children and young people must be heard, and that’s why the General Comment is so important. It gives governments precise guidelines to create the good living conditions that children, in particular, truly deserve. No child should ever have to live the way too many already have to.”
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General Comment No. 26 in German is available at www.kinderrechtekommentare.de
A child-friendly short version of the General Comment is available at https://www.tdh.de/general-comment/