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Participation and Postpaternalism: Child/youth Climate Action and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Children and youth have been engaging in climate action in significant numbers in recent years. They have engaged in protests in the streets, as well as dialogue with governments and intergovernmental organisations. In recent years they have been taking climate cases against governments with the aim of decreasing emissions in an effort to mitigate the climate crisis. In this article, we examine this action through the lens of child/youth participation. We begin by examining how the right to a healthy environment has developed. We then consider how participation rights for children have developed since the advent of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and, in particular, how the Lundy model frames children’s participation. Drawing on various examples of child/youth climate action, we apply the concepts of space, voice, audience and influence. We also consider the “postpaternalism” in different types of participation in environmental initiatives.

Authors

Aoife Daly, Niamh Purcell, Esther Montesinos Calvo-Fernndez, Emily Margaret Murray

Year
2025
Journal Name
The International Journal of Children's Rights
Category
Journal Article
Keywords
Climate Action; Climate Litigation; Participation; Lundy Model; Postpaternalism; COP
Full Citation

Daly, A., Purcell, N., Calvo-Fernández, E. M., and Margaret Murray, E. (2025). Participation and Postpaternalism: Child/youth Climate Action and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The International Journal of Children's Rights 33, 3, 562-593, Available From: Brill https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-33030001 [Accessed 30 September 2025]

Link to Publication
https://brill.com/view/journals/chil/33/3/article-p562_003.xml
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