Protecting Children's Rights Against Climate Change in the Light of the Theory of Intergenerational Justice
Akhlāq-i zīstī i.e., Bioethics Journal,
Vol. 15 No. 40 (1404),
14 July 2025
,
Page 1-15
https://doi.org/10.22037/bioeth.v15i40.46619
Abstract
Background and Aim: Climate change directly or indirectly places the fundamental rights of children - protected under the Convention on the Rights of the Child- at risk, depriving both the present generation and future generations of their rights to survival, development, protection, and participation in society. Throughout history, justice has been regarded as the ultimate goal of legal science and, from an axiological perspective, has been presented as encompassing all values. Nevertheless, the scope and subject of justice have been discussed less frequently. In other words, justice is generally conceived as governing matters and persons who exist in the present world; yet do future generations - particularly children- have no share in justice? This is the question that the theory of intergenerational justice seeks to uncover and address.
Methods: This research adopts a qualitative approach with the aim of describing and analyzing theoretical foundations and international documents, employing a documentary-library method. Data collection was conducted through a review of written documents in the two key domains of children's rights and intergenerational justice in climate change.
Ethical Considerations: In compiling this article, ethical aspects including preserving the originality of texts, honesty, and trustworthiness have been observed.
Findings: In General Comment No. 26, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has adopted a child-rights-based approach and has paid due regard to human rights and environmental principles, the recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as well as the existing and evolving principles and obligations of international environmental law.
Conclusion: The Committee on the Rights of the Child seeks, by emphasizing the theory of intergenerational justice, to obligate the present generation to recognize the rights of future generations particularly children, over natural resources and the environment, and to find solutions for a world currently facing environmental degradation. In this regard, States, on the basis of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, are committed to undertaking individual and collective actions, through international cooperation, to respect, promote and fulfil children’s rights in the face of climate change, as Article 4 of the Convention underscores the implementation of the Convention as a joint endeavour by States for the full realization of children’s rights.
- Children’s Rights
- Climate Change
- Intergenerational Justice
- Protection
How to Cite
References
1. UNICEF. The State of the World’s Children 2021: Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund; 2021.
2. Mayer B. The international law on climate change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2018.
3. Safari Nia M. The child’s right to a healthy and sustainable environment and the obligations of states and other relevant actors in the transition of new international legal developments. Justice Journal. 2024; 88(125): 37-75. [Persian]
4. Mohebi M, Faiz Elahi F. Analyzing the concept of intergenerational justice in international environmental law. Journal of International Law. 2021; 38(65): 7-30. [Persian]
5. Keller H, Leenaerts G. UN human rights treaty bodies: law and legitimacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2021.
6. Malthus TR. An essay on the principle of population: the 1803 edition. Edited by Shannon CS. New Haven (CT); London: Yale University Press; 2018.
7. Dupuy PM, Viñuales JE. International environmental law. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2018.
8. Anåker A, Nilsson M, Holmner Å, et al. Nurses’ perceptions of climate and environmental issues: a qualitative study. J Adv Nurs. 2015; 71(8): 1883-1891.
9. Suedi Y. Litigating climate change before the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Sacchi v Argentina et al.: breaking new ground? Nordic J Hum Rights. 2023; 40(4): 549-567.
10. Anderko L, Pennea E. Climate change and children’s health: improving clinical practice to address changing health needs. J Nurse Pract. 2022; 18(4): 395-398.
11. Brumberg HL, Karr CJ; Council on Environmental Health. Ambient air pollution: health hazards to children. Pediatrics. 2021; 147(6): e2021051484.
12. Adlong W, Dietsch E. Nursing and climate change: an emerging connection. Collegian. 2015; 22(1): 19-24.
13. Gislason MK, Kennedy AM, Witham SM. The interplay between social and ecological determinants of mental health for children and youth in the climate crisis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021; 18(9): 4573.
14. Helldén D, Ndejjo R, Sturm A, et al. Climate change adaptation across the life-course—from pregnancy to adolescence: it’s time to advance the field of climate change and child health. Environ Res Health. 2023; 1: 023001.
15. Hickman C, Marks E, Pihkala P, et al. Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey. Lancet Planet Health. 2021; 5(12): e863-e873.
16. Léger-Goodes T, Malboeuf-Hurtubise C, Hurtubise K, et al. How children make sense of climate change: a descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent–child dyads. PLoS One. 2023; 18(4): e0284774.
17. Nicholas PK, Breakey S, Tagliareni ME, et al. Climate change and population health: incorporating stages of nursing’s political development. Nurs Outlook. 2021; 69(1): 65-73.
18. Oerther S. Role of the school nurse in addressing climate-associated illnesses of school-age children. NASN Sch Nurse. 2023; 39(1): 18-20.
19. Perera F, Nadeau K. Climate change, fossil-fuel pollution, and children’s health. N Engl J Med. 2022; 386(24): 2303-2314.
20. Reiner KL, Haas-Howard C. Essential strategies for school nurses to move upstream in support of healthy students and a healthy planet. NASN Sch Nurse. 2022; 37(4): 217-222.
21. Rousell D, Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles A. A systematic review of climate change education: giving children and young people a “voice” and a “hand” in redressing climate change. Child Geogr. 2020; 18(2): 191-208.
22. Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The impact of climate change on global child health: position statement. London: RCPCH; 2023. Available from: http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/impact-climate-change-global-child-health-position-statement
23. Turner A, Wilks J. Whose voices? Whose knowledge? Children and young people’s learning about climate change through local spaces and Indigenous knowledge systems. Child Geogr. 2022.
24. United Nations Children’s Fund. The climate crisis is a child rights crisis: introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index. New York: UNICEF; 2021. Available from: http://www.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/UNICEF_CCRI_report_EN-1.pdf.
25. Urrutia-Pereira M, Guidos-Fogelbach G, Solé D. Climate change, air pollution and allergic diseases in childhood and adolescence. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2022; 98(Suppl 1): S47–S54.
26. World Health Organization. Air pollution and child health: prescribing clean air. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018.
27. Zhao Y, Sun Z, Xiang L, et al. Effects of pollen concentration on allergic rhinitis in children: a retrospective study from Beijing, a Chinese megacity. Environ Res. 2023; 229: 115903.
- Abstract Viewed: 52 times
- PDF (فارسی) Downloaded: 19 times