World had to wait for 28th COP to hear children’s voices: EC Vice President

DUBAI / WAM

Although children are the worst victims of climate change, the world had to wait for 28th UN Climate Conference (COP28) to discuss children’s issues related to climate change, Dubravka Šuic, the European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, told the Emirates News Agency (WAM).
At COP28, she listened to children’s ambassadors, climate activists, and representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) who were very vocal about children’s issues.
“They said they had to wait for 28 COPs to start talking about children and youngsters. [This was the] first time ever a COP discussed children’s rights,” Šuic said on the sidelines of COP28 that successfully concluded at Expo City Dubai.
However, Šuic said it was never too late. “It is better late than never. Climate change has a very huge impact on children. I would say children rights are in crisis.”
Therefore, she suggested that children should get a chance to express their position, “because they are the ones who will live in this future we are talking about. So, we have to let them participate in this decision-making process.”

Children’s crisis
Elaborating on the children’s issues, the EC Vice President said almost one fifth of children in Europe are in crisis due to poverty and climate change. “So, you can imagine what is the situation on other continents.”
In other parts of the world, especially in Africa, children find it difficult to endure climate events such as droughts, floods and famines, Šuic pointed out.
The situation is the worst in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere, she added.
Children are also the worst affected by carbon emissions, the official said.
“Children are different human beings; they need more air; they breathe twice faster than us. They have different minds and physiology. So, we have to think about our emissions, and we have to lower emissions,” Šuic said referring to the Paris agreement goal to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius.
However, the EC Vice President finds it encouraging that for the first time, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has explicitly affirmed the children’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, issuing comprehensive interpretation of Member States’ obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UN initiative
Šuic was referring to the UN Convention, created in 1989 and ratified by 196 states, outlining universal children’s rights such as the right to life, survival and development, and the right to health.
A recently published “General Comment No. 26 on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change”, explicitly addresses the climate emergency, the collapse of biodiversity and pervasive pollution, outlining countermeasures to protect the lives and life perspectives of children.
“I think it is very important. So, it is not only about Europe, but also about the whole world. And the Europe wants to cooperate with all other stakeholders [in this regard,” the Vice President said.

Well-organised COP
She had attended a few COPs in the past and found COP28 a different one. “My experience here is excellent because I saw that everything goes on well, everything runs smoothly.”
A Croatian politician, Šuic was appointed as the EC Vice President for the term 2019-2024. She is leading the Commission’s work on deliberative democracy and the Conference on the Future of Europe, giving people a say on how the EU is run and what it does, apart from other responsibilities.