External Publications
External Publications
The following journal articles were published by YCJ team members outside the scope of Youth Climate Justice project funding and timeline, however we share them here because they are very relevant to child/youth climate action and children's rights research.
| Category | Category | Keywords | Year | Title | Abstract | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Journal Article |
Journal Article | Intergenerational equity, children's rights, rights of future generations, right to a healthy environment, Convention on the Rights of the Child, best interests principle, climate change, equality | 2023 |
Intergenerational rights are children's rights: Upholding the right to a healthy environment through the UNCRC |
This article reflects on intersections between intergenerational equity, children's rights and the rights of future generations. Recent climate cases involving children and youth are considered, and the fact that few rely on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is analysed. It is emphasised that intergenerational rights are children's rights – children are a crucial link between current and future generations. In particular the principle of the best interests of the child, which is widespread in national legal systems, should be relied upon more frequently in climate cases. Arguments can be made that failing to accord sufficient attention to children's rights and interests in climate policies violates the best interests principle. Relying on the CRC may increase the chance of successful outcomes in environmental and climate cases; progressing the right to a healthy environment for all. It will also ensure that adequate attention for children's rights is embedded in such cases. | More details Read publication |
|
Journal Article |
Journal Article | Children and youth activism, climate, Sacchi, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Duarte Agostinho, European Convention on Human Rights | 2022 |
Climate Competence: Youth Climate Activism and Its Impact on International Human Rights Law |
Those who are under-18 are not often associated with the exercise of political rights. It is argued in this article however that youth-led climate activism is highlighting the extensive potential that children and young people have for political activism. Moreover, youth activists have come to be seen by many as uniquely competent on climate change. Youth activists have moved from the streets to the courts, utilising national and international human rights law mechanisms to further their cause. They are not the first to do so, and the extent of their impact is as yet unclear. Nevertheless, it is argued here that through applications such as Saachi (an application to the Committee on the Rights of the Child) and Duarte Agostinho (an application to the ECtHR) they are shifting the human-centric, highly procedural arena of international human rights law towards an approach which better encompasses person-environment connections. | More details Read publication |
|
Report |
Report | 2022 |
ENOC Synthesis Report: Children's Rights and Climate Justice |
The aim of this study was to capture what was happening in relation to children’s rights and climate justice across the ENOC membership. ENOC in 2022 consisted of 43 institutions in 34 countries within the Council of Europe, of which are EU countries. In some cases there is more than one institution to represent a country or region within a state. All ENOC states have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Most ENOC members are in states which have become members of the Aarhus Convention, which places obligations on states to facilitate access to information, public participation and justice in relation to the environment. | More details Read publication | |
|
Book chapter |
Book chapter | 2025 |
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 2, and Discrimination on the Basis of Childhood: The CRC Paradox? |
The CRC as an instrument calls attention to children as a group. Yet paradoxically it has not resulted in explicit consideration of discrimination against children on the basis of childhood (i.e. detrimental treatment for being young/under 18) in the same way that has happened for other groups like women and ethnic minorities. Children are more likely to suffer poverty and violence than adults, and under-18s are largely excluded from national legislation prohibiting unfair discrimination. In this article the jurisprudence of the Committee on the Rights of the Child is examined and it is established that even though child-specific discriminatory practices such as corporal punishment are criticised by the Committee, they are seldom labelled ‘discrimination’ as such. The Committee reserves consideration of Article 2, which enshrines the principle of non-discrimination, for traditionally disadvantaged groups of children such as girls and ethnic minorities. It is concluded that Article 2 has great potential for drawing attention to detrimental treatment for being young/under 18, but that the phenomenon must be more explicitly referenced with greater frequency in law, practice, and scholarship. | More details Read publication |