CRINmail 1458
In this issue:
Problems viewing this CRINmail? Click here.
The 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) has seen 195 States gather in Paris from the 30 November - 11 December 2015 to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change. It will, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, aim to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on tackling climate change and aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming below 2°C.
This special edition CRINmail will look at some of the challenges facing the COP21 and the implications for children’s rights.
As always, if you have any feedback, please email [email protected].
Climate change, children’s rights & intergenerational justice:
“There is not a single right whose enjoyment is not directly or indirectly affected by global warming”
The implications of climate change for children’s rights are being dangerously neglected. Studies have demonstrated the extent to which climate change will increase droughts, floods and hurricanes, which will in turn lead to an increase in disease outbreaks, malnutrition and destruction of habitats. This will affect the full range of children’s rights, including to life, survival and development (Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child), health (CRC Art. 24) and to an adequate standard of living (CRC Art. 27). Children in developing countries are bearing the brunt of climate change - a burden that will only increase over time.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, a further 20 percent of the world's population will be at risk of undernourishment by 2050 due to climate change (in a scenario of global warming of 2°C). Children are increasingly becoming homeless, being deprived of education and health care, and are often left with deep emotional trauma as a consequence of climate change. They will be faced with increasing diseases of prosperity (cardiovascular, obesity and cancer) as well as those directly linked to climate change, such as through air pollution, illnesses from extreme weather events and from water and food-borne viruses.
The immediate response to tackling climate change will profoundly affect the quality of life of future generations of children. As such, the concept of ‘intergenerational justice’ (meaning the rights of generations should be considered equal over time) must be at the heart of climate change discussions. Though notions of ‘climate justice’ have been central to international negotiations and policy proposals, they have so far not included measures for justice between generations.
Read more:
UNICEF: A brighter tomorrow: climate change, child rights and intergenerational justice
WHO Report: Climate Change and Children’s Health
Human rights and the COP21
Despite the clear human rights implications of irreversible climate change, a number of countries including Norway, the US, Australia and some EU countries, are concerned that including human rights protections in the binding part of the COP21 agreement could create a form of legal liability if global warming is judged to have violated those rights. Other nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, have taken an even harder line, pressing for human rights to be excluded completely from the text of any potential agreement. Indeed, observers of the negotiations at COP21 have reported that an article on human rights protections has been removed from the draft agreement text with the only reference remaining in the non-binding introduction, or preamble.
Language on ensuring "integrity and resilience of natural ecosystems" - which means keeping them healthy and self-sustaining - had been taken out entirely, but was then reinserted by the Philippines, according to observers. Some Latin American nations have reportedly led efforts to retain human rights language in the binding text.
A shortened paragraph referring to implementation of the agreement on the basis of respect for human rights and the promotion of gender equality remains up for discussion. Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, described moves to weaken the text as "an appalling attack on the moral compass that is the centre of this agreement". John Knox, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, said in a statement that all 195 States in the climate negotiations belonged to at least one human rights treaty. "They must ensure that all of their actions comply with their human rights obligations. That includes their actions relating to climate change,” he said.
Transparency at COP21
Civil society
The engagement of civil society is crucial to a successful outcome of COP21. Nevertheless, COP21 has been subjected to major criticisms around the engagement of civil society organisations and the decision processes around who has a seat at the table. Green and development groups have condemned decisions to bar observers from negotiating sessions at preparatory meetings and from the discussions themselves in Paris. Many States, such as Japan, have been actively seeking to exclude civil society from overseeing the discussions in Paris in a bid to rush through the revised negotiating text.
While there is a pretence among UN officials and state delegations that civil society is involved and engaged, in reality, civil society is rarely in a position where it can influence or make critical decisions. As noted by Stephen Lewis, former Canadian Ambassador to the UN and Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF: “[...] there is a curious behind-the-scenes contempt for civil society, it’s encouraged and stroked and mollified in public, so you can pretend that you are concerned about grassroots, but behind the scenes there’s no such urgency.”
Corporate interests
As long as business-friendly proposals continue to define climate policy, as they have in the past, there can never be any meaningful climate action. In fact, action on climate change is often positioned as directly opposed to economic growth, which means governments are afraid of upsetting industry, or when they do act, they award huge taxpayer-funded handouts to polluting industries.
Nevertheless, the scale of corporate influence at COP21 is unprecedented. The UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has called for “business involvement at the highest levels”, while other Heads of State have called for a stronger role for business, including the UK prime minister, David Cameron. The corporate sector has consequently played a significant role in shaping the agenda at COP21. It has been sponsored by some of the largest carbon emitters in the world including EDF Energy, Engie (which accounts for nearly half of France’s annual carbon output), Air France (which has opposed emissions reductions in the aviation sector), BNP Paribas (one of the top ten global coal lending banks during 2005-2013), BMW, Coca-Cola and BT. Furthermore, it is providing a platform for numerous oil and gas, mining and electricity corporations, to promote their “green credentials” at COP21 while providing technical advice on their preferred climate policies.
The power of misinformation
Many companies involved in resource extraction have been found to be withholding information on the negative impact of climate change for many years. They have also directly funded US think-tanks with the sole purpose of disseminating climate change denial information for more than 30 years. This has a significant impact upon individual's ability to access information.
The information children receive on climate change also fails to stand up to scrutiny. Several organisations have set up websites to “explain” climate change to children. However, they present information in a fairy-tale style, or inaccurate facts about the real extent of the damage caused by climate change, often stating that “people” or “humans” are solely responsible for the current state of affairs, instead of highlighting the role of companies and governments.
This has a direct link to the phenomenon of corporate involvement in supposedly positive endeavours, for example when companies present research on the effect of climate change, while simultaneously increasing investment in fossil fuels.
What kind of agreement is possible at COP21?
“International negotiations are incredibly opaque, incredibly difficult to understand,” said Peter Wood from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), at the Global Landscapes Forum in Paris, taking place alongside COP21. “It is really incredible how these people have managed to make something very straightforward into a completely foreign language.”
As the talks enter the home stretch, developing country negotiators and campaigners are becoming increasingly vocal in their complaints that certain States are obstructing a deal. Saudi Arabia stood accused on Tuesday of trying to wreck the Paris climate summit by resisting efforts to enshrine ambitious goals in the text of the agreement. The Saudis objected even to the mention of a new, more ambitious target of 1.5C for limiting warming now endorsed by more than 100 countries including vulnerable low-lying States and big polluters such as the European Union and the US.
“We are going to have a conference in Paris and it is going to pretend to be successful — it may not even pretend — but it won’t be successful, it can’t be successful, because the decision has already been made that everything will be voluntary.”
(Stephen Lewis, former Canadian ambassador to the UN and Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF)
Looking ahead
A critique of COP21 raises questions around how seriously States are taking climate change. With each summit presented as the last opportunity to achieve real change, many civil society organisations are right to be sceptical after the failure of the Copenhagen summit in 2009. Ultimately, if the commitments coming out of COP21 remain voluntary without any enforcement mechanisms, the process will ultimately remain flawed. Climate policy needs to drive business if new business models are to emerge – not the other way around. Unfortunately, it seems likely that after COP21, it will be business as usual. Though targets will emerge, which some States will honour, many others will not and there will be little that can be done to sanction them.
Despite the fact that corporations and governments have continued to breach children's right to a clean environment with relative impunity, resistance is developing. There is a growing body of court cases on children’s rights and climate issues, including those brought by children themselves, aiming to force those in power to accept their role as stewards of the environment for generations to come. For example, in a recent case brought by a group of children in Washington State, it was held that “the state has a constitutional obligation to protect the public’s interest in natural resources held in trust for the common benefit of the people.”
In the coming weeks, we will publish a special edition of our Children in Court CRINmail with a case study on this issue.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Violence
Privacy
Custody, visitation, divorce and adoption
Health / environment
Identity
Back to top
ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1993. The CRC has not been incorporated into domestic laws, and New Zealand reserves the right to interpret its CRC obligations in consonance with its national laws and policies. Though the CRC is not directly enforceable in national courts, the courts give due consideration to the principles embodied in the CRC while deciding cases where children are involved. A minor can bring, continue or defend any court proceedings with the consent of a litigation guardian. If a lawyer is appointed for the child, it is solely at the discretion of the court to decide whether or not the court fees will be paid by the applicant. Non-governmental organisations may have standing to bring a claim involving a violation of children’s rights. There are several child-friendly mechanisms to enable children to give evidence in court and to protect children’s privacy in legal proceedings.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in New Zealand.
This report is part of CRIN's access to justice for children project, looking at the status of the CRC in national law, the status of children involved in legal proceedings, the legal means to challenge violations of children’s rights and the practical considerations involved in bringing a case.
Back to top
UPCOMING EVENTS
Child protection: Lunch & learn seminars - Exploring the principles of child protection
Organisation: ChildHope and Consortium for Street Children
Date: Monthly
Location: London, United Kingdom
Family: Int'l conference on shared parenting - Best practices for legislative and psycho-social implementation
Organisation: International Council on Shared Parenting (ICSP)
Date: 9-11 December 2015
Location: Bonn, Germany
Disability: 32nd Pacific Rim international conference on disability and diversity
Organisation: Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Submissions deadline: 17 December 2015
Event date: 25-26 April 2016
Location: Honolulu, United States
Education: Sixth int'l human rights education conference - 'Translating Roosevelt’s four freedoms to today’s world'
Organisations: HREA and University College Roosevelt
Dates: 17-19 December 2015
Location: Middelburg, Netherlands
Leadership: Future Leaders Programme
Organisation: The Resource Alliance
Application deadline: 31 December 2015
Event date: 4-8 April 2016
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom
Research: Professional development courses in research with children & young people
Organisation: University of Edinburgh
Dates: March and April 2016
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Alternative care: Improving standards of care - systems, policies & practices
Organisation: Udayan Care
Date: 18-19 March 2016
Location: Noida, India
Call for submissions: Global summit on childhood - 'creating a better world for children & youth through sustainability, social innovation & synergy'
Organisation: Association for Childhood Education International
Date: 31 March - 3 April 2016
Location: San José, Costa Rica
Child rights: Advanced studies programme in international children’s rights
Organisation: Leiden University
Application deadline: 1 April 2015
Location: Leiden, Netherlands
Back to top
EMPLOYMENT
CRIN: Legal Research Intern (Russian-speaking)
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: London, United Kingdom
CRIN: Middle East and North Africa Intern
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: Bethlehem, Palestine
International Rescue Committee: Education Coordinator
Location: Sierra Leone
Application deadline: 1 January 2016
LEAK OF THE WEEK
Education of girls is an important issue for President Museveni of Uganda. Last month on his campaign trail President Museveni promised free sanitary pads to schoolgirls, an idea that was impressed upon him by experts trying to address the problem of girls dropping out of school. But President Museveni suggested this week that an education is what enables women to raise a family (without which they may struggle to do so), thereby freeing up men to get on with other jobs, like waging war. "I spent a total of 13 years in the bush fighting and you may wonder that how did Museveni have a family? But because my wife was educated, she was able to handle." At least his experts appear to be on the right track.
Back to top
| 
