Rise in temperature and weather shifts due to climate change have a gruesome effect on human life and health globally. It is less known, however, that children are disproportionally affected due to climate change. Around 2.2 billion children are at extremely high risk of being affected by climate change, according to the assessment made by Unicef in 2020. Even the levels of violence and exploitation against children tend to increase with the impact of the ensuing disasters, as documented in a recent white paper by Barnfonden, a member of the ChildFund Alliance in Sweden.
Children are the least responsible for climate change and environmental degradation but will bear the greatest brunt.
The WHO quotes the figure of an estimated 1 billion children aged 2 to 17 experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional violence each year, based on the WHO's information in 2020.
Disasters as a result of climate change exasperate social inequalities and worsen hunger and malnutrition, diarrhoea and vector-borne diseases, and pneumonia -- already the greatest killers of children globally. Violence against children rises due to migration, conflicts, poverty, food insecurity, and mental health issues caused by disasters as a result of climate change. Children often find themselves at the receiving end during and after disasters. They undergo extreme physical hardship and emotional stress.
The recent super typhoon Noru, which hit the Philippines on Sept 25 this year, resulted in the destruction of thousands of homes as well as displacing many. Zantie, a 14-year-old boy from Burdeos, Quezon, said, "There was a heavy wind and rain during the typhoon that destroyed my home. Our house was immediately inundated by water, and everything happened so rapidly. I hope our house gets fixed soon. I'm hoping I'll soon be able to return to school." Lucas, a 9-year-old boy says, "Due to heavy rain and wind, our house collapsed and we took shelter in the nearby house that had no roof. I felt hopeless at that time. I was crying so hard when we were running for cover. I just want my house rebuilt and return back to school."
Covered by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children are entitled to be protected from all forms of violence. Reality has a different face, though!
During droughts, poor and vulnerable families are forced to pull their children out of school. Children are compelled to engage in child labour, depriving them of their childhood and harming their mental, physical or social development. Girls are forced to walk a longer distance to fetch water, putting them at higher risk of violence, assault, harassment, and even abduction. Children in temporary shelters during floods, cyclones, and typhoons, are often at risk of violence due to weak child protection structures in these shelters. Even during the Covid-19 crisis, we saw children undergoing tremendous mental stress due to school closures, gender-based violence, child marriage, and online/offline sexual abuse and exploitation. Cases of child trafficking, rape, and sexual assault often rise significantly during emergencies.
Unfortunately, even existing plans to address the impacts of climate change in many countries show that climate policies are ignoring our youngest generation -- children and youth, although they should be at the centre of all environmental and climate change policies, research, and advocacy.
The Barnfonden study examines helpful violence prevention strategies. It concludes that the INSPIRE strategies -- promote seven comprehensive strategies for ending violence against children through a) Implementation and enforcement of laws; b) Norms and values; c) Safe environments; d) Parent and caregiver support; e) Income and economic strengthening; f) Response and support services; and g) Education and life skills can be a key to shifting the needle.
To encourage actions to keep children safe in climate-affected communities, the report includes recommendations aligned with the Paris agreement and the internationally adopted Sustainable Development Goals.
Some of the concrete recommendations include:
- Acknowledging the fact that climate change is increasing the levels of violence against children and gathering the evidence surrounding the same;
- Strengthening livelihood resilience and addressing social norms while also developing school-based programs that encourage environmental stewardship and child rights;
- Enhance disaster prevention and response services to recognise the risk of increased violence against children and promote anticipatory action; and
- Listening to, engaging with, and supporting children and youth in planning and finding solutions to deal with the effects of a changing climate.
Regarding the last recommendation, there is some silver lining on the horizon. For the first time, COP27, which took place from Nov 6 to 18 in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh, brought together children's advocates at the "Children and Youth Pavilion" to raise awareness and push for bold climate action. This gives children a chance to voice their concerns to world leaders and advocate for policies that put children's rights first. It's a welcoming step towards engaging children and young people so that their needs are recognised and heard as key agents of change. However, more needs to be done to strengthen the understanding of the linkages between climate change and environmental degradation, and violence against children. Children and young people have an important role to play, or putting it into their own words: "Nothing about us without us".
Roland Angerer is Regional Director, Asia at ChildFund International.
