BANGKOK, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) officially launched a document in Bangkok on Thursday, calling for actions at the intersection of children's rights and the climate emergency.
General Comment No. 26, outlining the responsibilities of states to safeguard the lives and well-being of children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, was launched at an event organized by the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office.
The General Comment specifies that states are responsible not only for protecting the children's rights from immediate harm, but also for foreseeable violations of their rights in the future due to states' acts -- or failure to act -- today.
"General Comment 26 provides essential legal and practical guidance to states and the business sector in navigating the triple planetary crisis," (comprising the climate emergency, the collapse of biodiversity and pervasive pollution), said Ann Skelton, chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Ann also told Xinhua that UNICEF has a positive working relationship with the Chinese government, noting that she believes "what China is doing and the impact of climate change in this case on the profession of child rights in China will have an impact." ■
