A/HRC/44/44 enrich understanding about the oppression that global climate change perpetuates and foster greater awareness of the need for solidarity with them and others. 13. Human rights-based international solidarity in the context of climate change has a bearing on pressing questions about the persistent negative repercussions of colonialism on the ability of indigenous peoples to make decisions that affect their own lives and to contribute to the lives of others. Indeed, the recognition that indigenous peoples have rights to self-determination, 15 and that indigenous knowledge advances environmental stewardship, means that there are entwined local and global imperatives for ensuring indigenous peoples can make decisions on climate change that can affect everyone else. 16 Indigenous peoples have fought to gain entry into, and to reshape, political forums on climate change, advancing “both a positive vision of social and economic systems, while also contesting and engaging with dominant understandings of climate change and their hegemonic and neocolonial causes”. 17 For example, they established a caucus in international negotiations that worked alongside allies to institutionalize the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform, which facilitates the integration into the international legal process of matters such as traditional knowledge. Priorities and strategies have also been adopted by global, national and local indigenous organizations, such as the group Indigenous Climate Action, which supports indigenous peoples to reclaim their “roles and responsibilities” as caretakers of the earth to achieve “a climate stable future for all”. 18 Such achievements, while ongoing, are positive steps towards the expansion of human rights-based international solidarity in the climate change field, understood as the engagement of indigenous peoples as partners in responding to the common, global problem of climate change. 14. Some youth coalitions provide other examples of non-State human rights-based international solidarity in the context of climate change because their leadership and collaborations facilitate the enjoyment of rights to well-being under the Convention on the Rights of the Child for children the world over. Youth are the people envisioned to be the “future generations” when climate change rose to the international agenda 30 years ago. Nevertheless, youth still have limited opportunities to participate in climate governance. To exercise their own agency, youth gained the status of a constituency in international climate negotiations and also participate as “youth delegates”. 19 Youth movements are pooling resources to organize transnationally through a global network. 20 Many youth marshalled demonstrations worldwide during the climate strikes, which involved approximately 7.6 million people acting in solidarity with each other, making them some of the largest protests in history.21 Most recently, youth from 16 countries filed a communication with the Committee on the Rights of the Child alleging that five of the world’s largest polluters are endangering the lives and welfare of millions of children around the world. 22 Their advocacy on the petition may clarify rights protections in solidarity with all youth for whom the “climate crisis is not an abstract future threat”. 23 15. For their part, environmental defenders 24 are struggling for climate justice, each in solidarity with the other, on the frontlines of carbon intensive projects, as well as projects 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 See General Assembly resolution 61/295. See Ben Powless, “The indigenous rights framework and climate change”, in Routledge Handbook of Human Rights and Climate Governance, Duyck, Jodoin and Johl. Ibid., p. 213. See also Kyle Whyte, “Indigenous climate change studies: indigenizing futures, decolonizing the Anthropocene”, English Language Notes, vol. 55 (2017). See www.indigenousclimateaction.com/who-we-are. See Harriet Thew, “Youth participation and agency in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change”, International Environmental Agreements, vol. 18 (2018). See https://youthclimatemovement.wordpress.com. See https://globalclimatestrike.net/7-million-people-demand-action-after-week-of-climate-strikes. See https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/CRC-communication-Sacchi-et-al-v.-Argentina-etal.pdf. Ibid., para. 3. Human Rights Council resolution 40/11. 5