A/HRC/37/58 56. The discretion of States with respect to the protection of children’s rights is further restricted by their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other agreements to adopt and implement special measures of protection, assistance and care for children, and to ensure that the best interests of children are a primary consideration in all actions concerning children.73 These obligations require States not just to protect children from harm, but also to ensure their well-being and development, including by taking into account the possibility of future risk and harm. 74 57. The discretion accorded States in deciding appropriate levels of environmental protection rests on the assumption that societies will make informed decisions as to how to balance the costs of environmental harm against the benefits of spending resources for other goals, such as faster short-term economic growth. But the cost-benefit calculus is very different for children, especially younger children. The consequences of environmental harm are usually far more severe, and may include death or irreversible, lifelong effects. The cumulative effects of long-term environmental harm, such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity, increase over time, so that decisions taken today will affect children much more than adults. The lack of full information about many types of environmental harm means that their long-term effects are often poorly understood and underestimated. And, finally, the voices of children are only rarely heard in environmental decision-making. 58. Therefore, to satisfy their obligations of special protection and care, and to ensure that the best interests of the child are taken into account, States have heightened obligations to take effective measures to protect children from environmental harm. They should make certain that they are protecting children’s rights before they make decisions that may cause environmental harm, including by: collecting and disseminating disaggregated information on the effects of pollution, chemicals and other potentially toxic substances on the health and well-being of children; ensuring that the views of children are taken into account in environmental decision-making; and carrying out children’s rights impact assessments. States should adopt and implement environmental standards that are consistent with the best available science and relevant international health and safety standards, and they should never take retrogressive measures. 75 The lack of full scientific certainty should never be used to justify postponing effective and proportionate measures to prevent environmental harm to children, especially when there are threats of serious or irreversible damage. On the contrary, States should take precautionary measures to protect against such harm.76 Once standards protective of children’s rights are adopted, States must ensure that they are effectively implemented and enforced. To that end, they must provide regulatory agencies with sufficient resources to monitor and enforce compliance with domestic laws, including by investigating complaints and bringing appropriate remedial actions. 77 59. As part of their obligations to protect children from environmental harm, States must adequately regulate private actors, including business enterprises. Businesses can cause environmental harm to children’s rights in many ways, including by producing hazardous products, polluting the air and water, creating hazardous waste, contributing to climate change and destroying forests and other natural ecosystems. 78 They can also commit human rights abuses such as violating child labour protections or colluding with governmental or private security forces to use violence against peaceful protestors. 60. As the Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated, States must take all necessary, appropriate and reasonable measures to prevent business enterprises from causing or contributing to abuses of children’s rights. 79 This includes ensuring that businesses comply with all applicable environmental standards. States should require businesses, including State-owned businesses, to carry out “child-rights due diligence” to 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 See Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 3; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 10 (3). See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 14, paras. 24 and 71. See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 15, para. 72. See Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, principle 15. See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 16, para. 61. Ibid., para. 19. Ibid., para. 28. 15