GENEVA: All children are entitled to a clean and healthy environment, a UN committee said for the first time on Monday (Aug 28), bolstering young people's arguments for suing authorities over the ravag
Issuing a fresh interpretation of an important international rights treaty, the United Nations watchdog determined that it guarantees children the right to a healthy environment."States must ensure a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in order to respect, protect and fulfil children's rights," the Committee on the Rights of the Child said.
The fresh analysis comes just weeks after a landmark court ruling in Montana in favour of a group of youths who accused the western US state of breaching their rights to a clean environment. And the UN committee itself heard a case in 2021 brought by Greta Thunberg and 15 other young climate activists, in which it determined that countries bear cross-border responsibility for the harmful impact of climate change.Southeast Asia central to plastic crisis as world leaders negotiate treaty to fight pollutionThe new analysis could provide a new and powerful tool for young people seeking to bring such cases, committee chair Ann Skelton told AFP.
To reach its conclusions, the panel said it had consulted with governments, civil society and especially children. The new committee guidance"will help us understand and exercise our rights in the face of the environmental and climate crisis", he said in a statement.
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