Last week, the Youth Climate Justice project at UCC and the Centre for Child Law at the University Of Pretoria, Faculty of Law co-hosted an engaging 1-day conference for children and youth across South Africa, and beyond. ⁣⁣

The Youth Climate Justice project has produced a Special Issue of The International Journal of Children’s Rights, bringing together co-authored pieces by child/youth climate advocates, lawyer practitioners, and academics. 

Youth climate justice project PI Prof Aoife Daly has a new book chapter out entitled 'Nondiscrimination/Equality and Children's Rights in the Climate Crisis'. You can read it here.  

Over the past few months, the YCJ Young Advisory Team partook in a series of 4 online research workshops and created stunning artwork to share their views of child/youth climate action and leadership. An exciting milestone for the YCJ project with another fieldwork stint completed!  

The accelerating climate emergency is usually measured in tonnes of carbon and degrees of warming. In a recent article, Dr. Florencia Paz Landeira invites readers to look instead at how we experience time in a destabilised world. Children and youth occupy a particularly exposed temporal position: they confront immediate hazards, feel the strain of gradual environmental decline, and foresee a future already circumscribed by present-day emissions. Analysing the landmark case Sacchi v. Argentina through this temporal lens reveals why delay in climate action is itself a violation of children’s rights and why legal institutions must adapt to the pace of planetary change.

The Youth Climate Justice Project is hiring: join our team as Research Assistant! 

The Youth Climate Justice (YCJ) Nepal fieldwork has officially come to an end! Here, we reflect on this journey and the meaningful participation of 34 indigenous children and young people from Patan, who took part in creative workshops exploring climate change, children’s rights, and leadership.

A journal article entitled Temporalities in Crisis: Analysing the Sacchi vs. Argentina Case and Children’s Rights in the Climate Emergency, written by our postdoctoral researcher Dr Florencia Paz Landeira, has been published this week in the journal Children & Society. This article is open access and available to read in full on the journal’s website. 

As the climate crisis intensifies, children and youth are stepping into the spotlight as prominent activists and litigants. From leading global grassroots movements to raising their voices through the courts, their efforts are shaping the global conversation on climate justice. But are justice systems well-equipped to support them? Prof. Aoife Daly highlights in recent publication the urgent need for child-friendly justice in addressing climate issues, grounded in the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Are you a young person aged 8 to 28 with a story to tell about your journey in climate advocacy at global climate governance events? Whether you've participated in a COP conference or faced challenges trying to attend, we want to hear from you! 

Keystone Youth Climate Justice's article outlining postpaternalism theory is out now. We argue that children/youth are environmental rights leaders taking action on a global scale, rather than well-meaning adults “giving” children their rights. You can read it here: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-995X/4/4/88

The Youth Climate Justice project presents its introductory film, co-created with our Young Advisors. You can watch the full film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ebllLw5xg

‘Our young people want to have their voices heard, and it’s up to us to make sure they’re listened to!' - Niamh Purcell, Child/Youth Biodiversity Assembly (Ireland) Member, at YCJ Conference 2024.

The Youth Climate Justice project launches the Global Study on Climate Litigation Involving Children and Youth 

Later this month, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Nabin Maharjan will be heading to Nepal to begin one of many case studies on children and young peoples’ experiences and views on youth climate justice!

On August 12th every year, the world celebrates International Youth Day. The Youth Climate Justice project is very fortunate to work with so many amazing young people around the globe, especially through the Youth Advisory Team.

PhD researcher Liesl Muller joins the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child as an external expert. 

Prof Aoife Daly, Dr. Florencia Paz Landeira, and PhD Researchers Liesl Muller and Emily Murray took part in the 10th CREAN PhD symposium in Stockholm from June 13-14th, presenting on the different facets of the Youth Climate Justice project.

Our Children/Youth Advisor Katie Reid shares some insights on the selection process of our first Young Advisory Team.

PhD Researcher Emily Murray joins the Ocean Incubator Network in Copenhagen for an interdisciplinary workshop on intergenerational ocean literacy.

Prof Aoife Daly shares insights on the "Children’s rights and the right to a healthy environment – intersections and opportunities" workshop, hosted by the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law on 11-12 April 2024.

The Youth Climate Justice team are recruiting 12 young advisors to create a Young Advisory Team - applications due 5th May 2024 at 17:00 GMT.

Joining the Youth Climate Justice team during her final year of her BCL degree, Alicia O’Sullivan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience around youth’s engagement in climate activism. She will be advising on our advisory board, in addition to assisting with breakdowns and analyses of climate cases! 

Prof. Aoife Daly speaks at an online event for the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, hosted by the youth-led non-profit organisation, ClimaTalk. The event covered the main topic of climate litigation, drawing on youth-led climate cases to explore the way children are using their rights to push the sustainability agenda.  

Prof. Aoife Daly, PhD researcher Emily Murray, and Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Florencia Paz Landeira attended the 1st Centre for Law & the Environment Workshop on March 14th. Prof. Daly was one of the Guest Speakers.

Professor Aoife Daly delivered her inaugural lecture 'What child/youth climate action means for human right law" on 13 March 2024 in the Dr. Dora Allman Room.

Young people from Cork Educate Together Secondary School and Cork City Youth Council co-create beautiful artwork on children’s rights and the climate crisis.  

PhD Researcher and team member Emily Murray publishes an innovative article in the Global Jurist with co-author Prof. Margherita Paola Poto on the importance of instilling a sustainability mindset through a reimagined legal education and research framework.

Aoife Daly, Dr. Florencia Paz Landeira, and Emily Murray discussed the human rights perspective, key elements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and its link to the climate crisis at the Cork City Youth Council (Comhairle na nOg) meeting.

P.I. Professor Aoife Daly and Post-doc researcher Nabin Maharjan spoke to young people about the project; and on environmental rights more broadly on International Human Rights Day.

In January 2024, Florencia Paz Landeira and Emily Murray moved to Ireland all the way from Argentina and Canada, respectively, to join the Youth Climate Justice project. With backgrounds in social anthropology, global health, and participatory research methods, we are delighted to have them on board to bring their diverse expertise to the project.

Dr Nabin Maharjan reflects on his workshops with secondary school students of Cork, where he presented on Nepali students’ school environment initiatives.

Youth Climate Justice PhD Researcher Liesl Muller presented on child/youth climate justice and how there are an increasing number of climate cases taken by children and youth. 
 

Newest contribution by Professor Aoife Daly. 

Child/youth climate advocacy reveals the paternalism of much of our approach to the CRC. We are experiencing ‘post-paternalism’, I suggest here, involving grassroots action from children (for the first time, on a global scale), rather than well-meaning adults ‘giving’ children their rights. Future approaches to the CRC must reflect this.