Young people have been leading a human rights-based approach to climate changeClimate change poses the biggest threat to the planet and human rights in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. The United Nations has recognized the interconnectedness of climate change and human rights, prompting them to call for human rights-based approaches to address climate change. Human rights-based approaches are governed by the principles of participation, equality and nondiscrimination, accountability, and transparency. This paper highlights how youth climate activists have operationalized these human rights-based principles in their climate protests. It then suggests how policy makers can support young people to advance human rights while advocating for climate change policies.
This study examined youth-led climate advocacy through a human-rights based approach to evaluate how their activism has furthered human rights. Their claims largely draw upon academic and gray literature and the authors’ experiences as practitioners and young activists. The team of multinational authors also highlighted practical challenges that young people face in their attempts to operationalize the principles of participation, equality and nondiscrimination, accountability, and transparency.
The authors cite several international examples in which children, adolescents, and youth have operationalized the four principles of human rights-based approaches. First, young people have been advocating for participation and meaningful engagement in global and domestic arenas. Second, youth-led initiatives have prioritized equality and nondiscrimination. Third, young people have been using accountability mechanisms to hold stakeholders responsible for their commitments. Fourth, young people have been demanding transparency in information, governance processes, and investments. The authors also called out several barriers to young people advancing human rights-based climate advocacy: a hierarchical social structure that sees them as recipients of authority rather than agents of change, the exclusion and tokenization of young people from decision-making discussions, social discount rates which prioritize short-term economic benefits over long-term benefits for future generations, young people’s lack of funding and technology, the high costs of legal action, hierarchical norms relating to gender and social status, and the highly technical language in climate-related negotiations, reports, assessments, and scientific studies.
The authors argue that decision-makers can learn from these successes and challenges that young people face in their advocacy to address climate change. They call upon policy makers to do the following to support and empower young people to pursue human rights-based climate advocacy: (1) Create opportunities for meaningful engagement of young people; (2) Ensure that young people are treated equally and without discrimination; (3) Enhance the legal enforceability of states’ human rights obligations regarding climate change; and (4) Strengthen transparency in policymaking, governance, and investments. In doing so, adults, practitioners, policy makers, and governments can follow young people’s lead in promoting more responsible approaches to climate change and human rights.
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