Submission on the Third and Fourth Periodic Report of India to the Committee on the Rights of the Child

As India’s report notes, access to education in the country continues to expand. Of particular importance during the reporting period was new legislation, particularly the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009, and continuing programs, such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is aimed at achieving universal elementary education. Government efforts have resulted in nearly 100 percent enrollment in primary schools but marginalized children still face exclusion and many drop out before completing even eight years of schooling guaranteed under the Right to Education Act.

I II III IV V VI international organizations such as UNICEF, and for research and academic institutions. The guidance can also be used as a resource to support reporting on children's environmental rights within the context of other sustainable development and environmental agreements, such as the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to national accountability mechanisms such as National Human Rights Institutions.
The environment matters to children.
That clear and vocal message is being sent to decision-makers and the global public by the thousands of children and young people that have marched on the streets and continue to demand more action to protect the climate. As citizens of their countries and the world they claim their right to freedom of expression and to be heard.
In too many instances, the views, rights and interests of children go completely unheard in decisions on the environment, leading to adverse outcomes in terms of children's wellbeing and development. For this reason, the authors of this guidance believe that it is critical to shed more light on the various links between children's rights and the environment, and to ensure that these connections are reflected in the work of relevant decision-making bodies.
This guidance seeks to provide a concise guide to reporting on children's rights as they relate to environmental issues. It is primarily intended to assist civil society organizations from both the human rights and environmental fields with shadow reporting for States' periodic reviews under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). However, the guidance also provides a basis for wider uptake among other actors as well, for example for national reporting by States themselves, for I Children are disproportionately vulnerable Children are disproportionately affected by environmental harm due to the unique and rapid period of physical and mental development that occurs during childhood, particularly between birth and the age of five. For example, children's developing organs, immune systems and smaller airways are less able to deal with toxic air, contaminated water, vector-borne diseases or heatwaves. Typical behaviors, such as hand-to-mouth activity in young children, and spending longer periods of time playing outdoors, further increase their exposure. Children are also less equipped to recover from psychological trauma they may experience, for example during and after extreme weather events, which may cause injury or the death of loved ones, or separate them from their families. Children are also among the least empowered groups on environmental issues. They often lack access to basic information and transformative, quality education in this area, and are seldom provided with mechanisms to participate in decision-making, for example in consultations relating to the construction of hydro dams, road construction or new mining projects that will fundamentally affect their lives and communities. When acting and speaking out on environmental issues, children may face severe criticism, patronisation, intimidation, harassment, reprisals and even violence from authorities or corporations 5 . Children also face major barriers in seeking redress, including compensation, for infringements of their rights due to environmental harm. For example, the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics has noted that the burden is placed on children to prove that a toxic chemical caused their injuries. 6 In many cases, this burden of proof is virtually insurmountable, implicating States' obligation to prevent exposure in the first place.
Reporting on children's environmental rights will enhance standards & accountability The CRC is one of the few international human rights treaties to explicitly address environmental issues. Despite this, reporting on environmental harm to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (Committee) remains patchy, and the treaty body has urged States, UNICEF and civil society organizations to gather and submit more evidence and information on this subject. 7 Increased reporting will improve the understanding of the Committee, States and other actors regarding the connections between child rights and the environment, helping to strengthen coherence between national and global child rights, environmental and development commitments (see section V), and contributing to enhanced standards and accountability. Ultimately, increasing awareness and visibility of the relationship between children's rights and the environment represents a necessary (although not sufficient) step for obtaining action by governments and other relevant actors that guarantees children's right to grow up in a healthy and sustainable environment.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the environment There is no independent right to a healthy environment in the CRC but the treaty does explicitly recognize environmental issues in two places: Article 24(2) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health provides that:

"States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures: […] to combat disease and malnutrition […] taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution."
In addition to reporting on environmental issues in relation to these two articles, organizations can also consider a broader approach. A growing body of guidance from the Committee 8 and other human rights mechanisms identifies a wide range of provisions that closely relate to environmental protection, including the rights to: Linking the effects of environmental harm to a vast range of children's rights, including the rights to life, development, health, play, water, food, cultural life, and an adequate standard of living, will enable decision-makers to adopt more holistic environmental policies and standards taking into account the real-life conditions of children.

III
Collect disaggregated data on the specific effects of environmental harm on children to raise public awareness and inform laws and policies which adequately protect against such harm

Conduct environmental impact assessments of projects or policies that include a careful examination of impacts on children
Adopt and implement environmental laws, standards, policies and action plans that take full account of the ways in which children are more susceptible to environmental harm and/or face barriers to exercising their rights Include child-specific strategies and programmes when developing and implementing international environmental agreements that address threats to which children are particularly vulnerable.
The former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment has noted that "the human rights obligations of States in relation to the environment apply with particular force to the rights of children, who are especially at risk from environmental harm and often unable to protect their own rights." 9 According to his authoritative report on child rights and the environment, States' heightened obligations can be categorized as follows: 1. Obligations to protect children from environmental harm What are the duties of States in relation to child rights and the environment? § The Committee on the Rights of the Child has made clear that States should require businesses to carry out 'child-rights due diligence' to ensure that they 'identify, prevent and mitigate their impact on child rights including across their business relationships and within global operations.' 10 States must also ensure that information held by businesses relevant to the health and well-being of children is made publicly available, and that victims of environmental harm caused by businesses have access to effective remedies and timely reparation. 11 Obligations in relation to the business sector States must adequately regulate private actors, including business enterprises, to ensure that they comply with all applicable environmental laws, and do not contribute to abuses of children's rights.
States must take effective measures to protect children from actual and foreseeable environmental harm, including by ensuring that their best interests are a primary consideration with respect to all relevant decision-making. For example, States should: Applying the best interests of the child principle in the environmental context The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Toxics states that "(t)he best interests of the child are best served by preventing exposure to toxic chemicals and pollution, and taking precautionary measures with respect to those substances whose risks are not well understood. Unfortunately, industrial competitiveness, risk management options and cost-benefit considerations are prioritized over the best interests of the child". 14 For example, the complete absence or weakness of national air quality standards and their enforcement in many States indicates a widespread failure to act in accordance with the best interests of the child, with devastating impacts upon the health of children around the world. A different approach is possible, as good practices from certain countries show. The State of California, for example, has established rules to prohibit siting new schools within a certain distance of busy roads, in response to scientific evidence about the adverse health effects of traffic-related air pollution on developing lungs, brains and other organs. 15 In the context of climate change, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights notes that "States must take ambitious measures to minimize the future negative impacts of climate change on children by: limiting global warming to no more than 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels; focusing adaptation measures on protecting the most vulnerable children; and by ensuring that climate action measures are the product of participatory, evidence-based decision-making processes that take into account the ideas and best interests of children, as expressed by children themselves." 16 The Philippines' Children's Emergency Relief and Protection Act of 2016 provides a best practice model for legislation that addresses children's heightened vulnerabilities during emergencies and disaster situations, such as extreme weather events linked to climate change. The Government's Act provides for specific measures to protect and educate children in disaster settings, to ensure their participation in relevant decision-making processes, and to improve the collection of disaggregated data in the context of disasters. 17 8 Children's Rights and the Environment 2. Obligations in relation to education, public awareness, access to information, participation in environmental decision-making and to remedies for harm Fulfilling these rights helps to ensure that children are empowered to make themselves heard, to be taken seriously in relation to decisions on the environment, and to protect themselves from environmental harm.  Ensure that the special vulnerabilities and needs of children, as well as their views, are taken into account in developing policies and programmes addressing climate, environmental change and disaster risk management; (c) Seek bilateral, multilateral, regional and international cooperation in the areas of disaster risk reduction and of mitigation of and adaptation to the effects of climate and environmental change." -Concluding Observation for Antigua and Barbuda (2017) "The Committee recommends that the State party...place children's rights at the centre of national and international climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, including through its new domestic climate strategy, and in the framework of its international climate change programmes and financial support." -Concluding Observation for the United Kingdom (2016) "The Committee urges the State Party to ensure that children's views are taken into account in developing policies and programmes addressing climate change, the environment and disaster risk management and to increase children's awareness and preparedness for climate change and natural disasters, take measures to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by establishing targets and deadlines to phase out the domestic use and export of coal and to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, including by committing to meeting 100 per cent of its electricity needs with renewable energy." -Concluding Observation for Australia (2019)

Environmental education
The Committee recommends that "the State party work alongside the business sector to increase, through the school curriculum and communication programmes, the knowledge of children, parents, teachers and the public at large on environmental issues". V Some examples of possible entry points for enhancing accountability through monitoring and reporting (both by States and CSOs) in key international frameworks are highlighted below: • The Sustainable Development Goals contain multiple child-specific targets and indicators, and virtually all of the SDGs are child-relevant and include a strong environmental dimension (see table 1). The SDGs foresee a central role for 'country-led' national and subnational SDG reporting, as well as reviews at regional and global levels. Office of the UNHigh Commissioner for Human Rights notes that in global reporting ('voluntary national reviews'), many States are highlighting the efforts and measures that they have taken to improve children's environmental education. 19 While all review processes are voluntary, they include an emphasis on inclusiveness and broad participation, providing opportunities for CSOs and children to engage. 20 Shadow or 'parallel' reporting under the CRC is not the only option available to non-state actors seeking to hold States to account for children's environmental rights. States also have periodic reporting duties under various national, regional and international agreements and frameworks that address issues related to the environment, and should incorporate an explicit and comprehensive focus on children and actions taken to address their rights in this context. These processes frequently call for, or encourage monitoring by -and consultation with -civil society and key stakeholders, offering opportunities to introduce or heighten focus on child rights obligations under the CRC, linking these to relevant provisions where possible. Indeed, the Committee has already taken steps in this direction, by beginning to consistently link its Concluding Observations on environmental issues to particular Sustainable Development Goals and targets.  • The Minamata Convention on Mercury requires Parties to develop national action plans (NAPs) to prevent children's exposure to mercury in the context of artisanal gold mining, and to provide access to information (Annex C, art. 1). It also calls on governments to monitor children's exposure, and to provide testing and treatment.
The official NAP guidance adopted by States recommends that human rights groups be included as advisory group stakeholders, to monitor and provide inputs on healthy, children's and women's rights. 25 In addition to international frameworks, legal frameworks concluded at the regional and national levels offer further entry points for reporting and these are often easier to access for civil society organisations than the international level. Under the UNECE Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters, for example, States have to report regularly about national implementation measures and consult the public for this purpose. The Conference of the Parties has established a Committee that reviews compliance with the Convention and can receive communications from the public. At the national level, opportunities may include submitting reports, research and recommendations to accountability mechanisms involved in relevant national, sub-national and sectoral monitoring and review processes, such as Parliamentary inquiries or Committees that oversee implementation of national frameworks on the environment. These same bodies may oversee regional and international obligations and commitments for sustainable development and environmental plans/action, such as those outlined above).
• The Paris Agreement preamble calls for children's rights to be considered in the context of climate action.
States have obligations to report on progress made in implementing and achieving their national climate plans ('Nationally Determined Contributions') and are also encouraged (although not obliged) to report on climate change impacts and adaptation. In addition, States must convey national reports with respect to their obligations under the UNFCCC on a cyclical basis. 22 While preparatory processes for these reports are State-led, they offer opportunities for consultation and participation, in line with the UNFCCC commitment to encourage the widest participation of NGOs in the climate process (art. 4). At the international level, there are also numerous opportunities to directly provide submissions with respect to child-relevant workstreams, such as those dealing with Action for Climate Empowerment, adaptation, gender etc. The official Children and Youth constituency to the UNFCCC (YOUNGO), for example, regularly provides submissions, highlighting research, gaps, progress and recommendations.
• The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) recognizes the role of children and youth as agents of change, as well as education, access to information and participation. As of 2018, countries must report on their progress towards achievement of consolidated global targets and indicators. 23 Countries also use nationally-defined targets and indicators to measure their progress on national and local disaster risk reduction plans, and are expected to promote 'public scrutiny' in these efforts.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity contains no specific reference to children, although it links the definition of sustainability to the needs of future generations (art. 2) and obliges Parties to include biodiversity in public education (art. 13). States are required to produce National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and national implementation reports under the CBD, adopting a participatory approach. A 2012 decision encouraged States to include youth fully in these processes. 24 Children's environmental rights OHCHR (2020) Realizing the rights of the child through a healthy environment Committee on the Rights of the Child's report (2017)