Our Children’s Trust’s Submission on Rights of the Child
In 2016, Our Children’s Trust joined youth-led climate organization Earth Guardians and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in submitting a report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding state obligations in the context of children’s rights and climate change. This report illustrated how climate change disproportionately threatens the health, safety, and lives of children as well as how critical scientific standards for greenhouse (GHG) emissions mitigation are in order to protect children from catastrophic climate change impacts. The report further outlined how states’ failure to reverse climate change by acting on the best available science represents a violation of their duties to protect the rights of children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report also recommended the Committee take several concrete actions such as imploring member states to establish national climate recovery plans and to keep all untapped fossil fuel reserves in the ground.
Sacci, et al. v. Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany & Turkey
In September 2019, fourteen children including Greta Thunberg were inspired by the Juliana v. United States 21 youth plaintiffs to file a petition with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child alleging that the countries of Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey violated their rights under the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child by failing to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The youth are asking the Committee to declare that the five countries have violated their fundamental rights by causing climate change and to recommend actions that the countries should take to address climate change and to protect the rights of children. A decision on the petition from the Committee is pending.
While this case is on behalf of children and asserts violations of fundamental rights, it is asking the Committee to define a breach of human rights obligations based on international political commitments, not what scientists say is necessary for a safe climate system. Our Children’s Trust consulted with the legal teams at Earthjustice and Hausfeld on its submission.
Our Children’s Trust’s Submission on Achieving a Safe Climate
On June 27, 2019, Our Children’s Trust submitted a letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment that provided information about nations’ legal obligations to protect their citizens’ human rights from climate change impacts. The letter contextualized the human rights implications of climate change by highlighting the experience of four Juliana v. United States youth plaintiffs and called for scientific rather than political standards for climate change mitigation in order to properly protect the human rights of young people around the globe. It also articulated the actions required to align global concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide with the scientifically derived standard of 350 parts per million so as to prevent, reduce, and eliminate the adverse impacts of climate change.
Our Children’s Trust’s Submission on Cultural Rights and Climate Change
On May 1, 2020, Our Children’s Trust submitted comments to the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights in order to draw attention to the substantive obligations of states under international human rights law to refrain from conduct that harms children’s cultural rights in the face of climate change. Our Children’s Trust provided the Special Rapporteur with stories from some of our youth plaintiffs illustrating the cultural impacts they are experiencing due to climate change as well as the best available science needed to restore the climate system and protect the cultural rights of youth.