According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and General Comment 26, every child has the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Unfortunately, children’s rights are threatened by increasingly frequent environmental disasters. School closures, loss of housing, poverty and hunger are fueled by extreme weather events. Children worldwide are affected by this. The Catholic Youth Group appeals to the Austrian delegation to demand children’s right to an intact environment in Baku and to place the well-being of children at the center of the discussion. The focus must be on a good life for future generations.
Any hesitation makes the situation worse, and it is the children who have to grow up in a world where the damage is irreparable. Martina Erlacher, chairwoman of the Catholic Youth Group: “The extreme weather conditions caused by climate change also cause psychological stress in children, fear about their future, but also the feeling of not being heard by political decision-makers. At this point we would like to thank the children who stand up for the child’s right to a healthy environment, including those who go to Baku to talk to decision-makers on site. It takes a lot of courage and commitment and you should definitely be at the decision-making table!”
The climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis that we can only overcome together and with all our strength. The Catholic Youth Group therefore calls for the implementation of ecological children’s rights so that children are protected from environmental damage and a healthy upbringing is ensured in the future. This specifically means…
Creating climate justice: The countries and communities that have contributed the least to the climate crisis are suffering the most from its consequences. We call for binding and effective financial support with minimum contributions for the most affected populations and poorest countries in the world in order to be able to finance climate protection, adaptation and damage measures.
Children and their rights should be taken into account when taking measures and strategies to adapt to climate change, as they are particularly hard hit by flood disasters and droughts, not least through school closures.
Strengthening the participation of children in the COP so that they are not only informed about decisions that are important for their future survival, but also have a say in the content.
In Austria, as a rich industrial country, we should above all do our part to move away from fossil energy. Above all, this requires binding deadlines and exit plans. There also needs to be a clearer turnaround towards sustainable mobility and corresponding infrastructure expansion in rural areas.