Policy brief: A Framework for Facilitating Children’s Participation in International Processes at the Ocean-Climate Nexus
“Children are still largely invisible in decision-making processes on the marine environment, even if they are increasingly recognised as environmental human rights defenders in decision-making processes on climate action. States’ international obligations in relation to children’s human rights and the protection of the marine environment can and should be read together to offer a starting point to put children’s right to be heard at the heart of international decision-making at the ocean-climate nexus. Children’s right to be heard extends to all aspects of their lives – including voicing their views, influencing decisions, accessing justice and remedies, and participating in international law-making and policy-making processes relevant to the marine environment. Building on well-established scholarship and practice on children’s participation, we suggest how to create a space for the meaningful inclusion of children in international decision-making at the ocean-climate nexus, which is fun, safe, inclusive, based on inter-generational learning and partnership-building, and more likely to lead to transformative decisions to the benefit of present and future generations…”