A/HRC/35/14
welcomed and encouraged the good work done by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in
Geneva.
41.
The Director, Geneva Liaison Office, Division of Public Partnerships, United
Nations Children’s Fund agreed that national legislatures had a key role to play in
addressing the impacts of climate change on children’s rights, including the rights of girls
and of other children disproportionately impacted by climate change. She emphasized that
States had both national and transboundary responsibilities to protect children from the
adverse effects of climate change and, in the event of climate harms, to ensure their access
to remedy. Also under the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, businesses
had a responsibility to ensure access to remedy. With regard to information on the impacts
of climate change on children’s rights, the UNICEF representative highlighted the work of
the Human Rights Council and called for disaggregated data collection which would help
identify persons, including children, women and indigenous peoples, who may be
disproportionately affected by the adverse impacts of climate change. Finally, she called for
increased multisectoral cooperation, the development of child-friendly educational
materials on climate change, which would facilitate children’s participation in climate
processes, and the integration of human rights and children’s rights throughout relevant
monitoring and review mechanisms, including those at the UNFCCC.
42.
The Rapporteur of the Committee on the Rights of the Child also emphasized the
importance of ensuring meaningful participation by children in climate action. This could
be done by establishing standing consultative committees at the local and national levels
that included children in government decision-making processes. The rapporteur called on
States to take further steps to meet their human rights obligations to children, including
through improved reporting to the Committee with regard to climate issues. Civil society
inputs to the reviews of periodic State party reports to the Committee could also address
climate issues by drawing attention to the adequacy of States’ individual contributions to
international efforts to keep climate change to less than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels
and to the human rights impacts of their climate actions. For its part, the Committee could
help hold States accountable for any climate-related human rights concerns raised during
the review process by issuing relevant recommendations and asking questions about the
State’s efforts, for example to regulate businesses, and to monitor and respond to negative
climate impacts. Similarly, States could use the universal periodic review process to ask
each other questions and hold each other accountable for their climate and human rights
commitments. Finally, in order to address the transboundary impacts of climate change and
promote access to effective remedies, States could employ extraterritorial jurisdiction
where appropriate.
43.
Responding to a question about the role of social media in addressing climate
change, the founder of the Green Hope Foundation stated that social media helped
circumvent geographic boundaries, permitting the foundation to expand its activities
globally. She also called for heightened awareness about the veracity of information posted
on social networks. It was necessary to promote the responsible use of social media
platforms to ensure the accurate transmission of information. She concluded the panel
discussion by reiterating that children should be given a voice and be involved in the
decision-making, agenda-setting and implementation for climate change action.
44.
Closing the discussion, the moderator emphasized that collective efforts were
needed to build capacity to protect the rights of children and future generations, and to
ensure that all human rights were protected in the follow-up to and implementation of the
Paris Agreement. While there were a number of challenges to mainstreaming children’s
rights in climate action, the panel discussion had revealed many good practices. She hoped
that the forthcoming summary on the panel discussion and analytical study on climate
change and the rights of the child would make additional concrete recommendations for the
protection and fulfilment of children’s rights through climate action.
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