General principles

A group of children brought a petition to Washington’s Department of Ecology, asking them to adopt a rule to limit carbon emissions in their state. After being denied and then ignored they appealed against the Department’s rulemaking process claiming that, to be effective, it would have to be in line with up-to-date climate science.

The freedoms set out in the two Covenants are universal; they apply to everyone, everywhere. Children are no exception, they have all human rights. But children’s freedoms are rarely a priority; the ability to think freely, act and speak is too often denied for children all over the world.