"Right to development of children and future generations - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to development" (HRC/57/4324 July 2024

 

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Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the right to development, has just announced the distribution of his report to the Human Rights Council on "Right to development of children and future generations - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to development" (HRC/57/4324 July 2024; العربية | 中文 | English | Français | русский | Español). In releasing the Report, the Special Rapporteur explained:

The report highlights why the right to development should inform and complement children’s rights and child development under the CRC and other international standards. I also proposes five action pillars to overcome ongoing challenges (including conflicts and climate change) in realizing the right to development of children. See the figure below for further details.

The report also also explains why and how to take seriously the human rights – including the right to development – of future generations. I recommend four policy shifts to build an ecosystem supportive of the human rights of future generations:

1️⃣ Transitioning to the language of the “rights” of all “organisms”
2️⃣ Embedding intergenerational equity in decisions
3️⃣ Ensuring representation for meaningful participation
4️⃣ Reorienting financial planning and budgeting

As states finalise the Pact for the Future and the Declaration on Future Generations, hope this report will be useful for various stakeholders. Please share!

 

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Lots to chew on here in the context of an important project, thanks! Important to raise the fundamental questions which are well described here. Among the most interesting is the way in which it is now necessary, and perhaps useful, to weave together an increasingly complex and textured set of strands of international norms-rules-treaties-institutional narratives in fashioning both objectives and pathways toward application. 

Perhaps a challenge worth considering is conceptualizing some values based line between (1) the premise that children (and their caregivers) are state assets around which scientifically applied value objectives may be crafted and enforced (against States, other entities, and of course the caregivers and children indirectly as objects of these objectives) and (2) the old fundamental constitutionalized notion (at least in some places) about the centrality of the autonomy of the human person. An old question, really, and never easy, but perhaps still relevant in this stage of human historical development and as a function of the institutional apparatus (and likely big data technologies) that will necessarily have to be deployed in the service of these worthy goals.

 The Report may be accessed through the links provided above.  Below are the Report's "Conclusions and Recommendations; ¶¶ 87-recommendations.

 

 

VII. Conclusions and recommendations
 

A. Conclusions

 
87. Despite increasing awareness about and evolution of standards on children’s
human rights and child development, millions of children in all world regions continue
to lack a dignified life and an environment to realize their capabilities. Children
continue to face malnutrition, be trapped in poverty, be deprived of access to basic
needs, be trafficked for sexual or economic exploitation, experience violence in multiple
settings and be excluded from most decision-making processes. COVID-19, conflicts
and climate change have exacerbated challenges for children to realize their human
rights, including the right to development.

88. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur proposes that States and other
actors should apply a right to development lens to realize all human rights of children
in a holistic way. They should prioritize five action pillars to overcome ongoing
challenges in realizing the right to development of children: investing in child
development, nurturing responsible leadership, enabling participation, ensuring safety
and facilitating remediation.

89. While children may be proximate to future generations, they should not be
confused or conflated with future generations. Since the future of future generations is
partly in the hands of present generations, they should not do anything to undermine
the ability of future generations to realize their human rights, including the right to
development. The Special Rapporteur recommends four policy shifts to build an

87 Depletion and/or degradation of resources for future generations are problems that the principle of
intergenerational equity seeks to address. See Edith Brown Weiss, “Intergenerational equity in
international law”, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law),
vol. 81 (1987), pp. 127 and 128.
88 See https://www.nbim.no/en/the-fund/about-the-fund/.
89 See https://treasury.gov.au/intergenerational-report.

ecosystem supportive of the human rights of future generations. First, the language of
rights (not of needs or interests) should be used for future generations and the concept
of future generations should refer to all organisms – not merely human beings – that
will exist on the Earth in the future. Second, the principle of intergenerational equity
should be embedded in impact assessment and human rights due diligence processes
and the precautionary principle should be followed. Third, all present-time decision
makers should create an enabling environment to facilitate the participation of future
generations’ representatives in decision-making. Fourth, financial planning and
budgeting should be reoriented to build the economic capability for future generations
to realize their right to development.

B. Recommendations

 
90. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:

(a) Allocate the maximum possible resources to realize the right to
development of children – especially those from ethnic minorities or other marginalized
groups – and to achieve all the Sustainable Development Goals;
(b) Take effective measures to eliminate child labour, forced labour, child
marriage, human trafficking and domestic and/or sexual violence involving children;
(c) Strengthen institutions to prevent armed conflicts and wars and to hold
accountable actors responsible for violations of children’s human rights during
conflicts and wars;
(d) Ensure active, free and meaningful participation of children and
representatives of future generations in all policymaking and execution decisions,
including those concerning the right to development, the Sustainable Development
Goals, annual budgets, climate change, ocean governance, new technologies, trade and
investment agreements and public debt;
(e) Make available information to children about major policies, issues of
national or international importance and development projects in an accessible and
child-friendly manner;
(f) Include children from diverse backgrounds in government delegations
involved in multilateral negotiations for various human rights, environmental or
climate issues and in regional and international forums relating to these issues or the
Sustainable Development Goals;
(g) Adopt laws and policies to ensure that child human rights defenders do
not face any threats, bullying or intimidation for carrying out their legitimate work;
(h) Establish child-responsive remedial mechanisms to address effectively
violations of children’s human rights;
(i) Establish an institutional mechanism, such as appointing an
ombudsperson or a minister for future generations, to embed the principle of
intergenerational equity in all government decisions;
(j) Address the continuing adverse effects of nuclear legacies around the
world to safeguard the human rights of future generations.

91. The Special Rapporteur recommends that businesses:

(a) Pay a living wage and create a family-friendly work environment to enable
parents and caregivers to fulfil their responsibilities to realize the right to development
of their children;
(b) Consult meaningfully children, child human rights defenders and child
rights experts while conducting human rights due diligence;
(c) Consider, as part of human rights due diligence or impact assessment
processes, the adverse impact of their activities on the human rights of future
generations and adopt the precautionary principle;
(d) Ensure active, free and meaningful participation of children and
representatives of future generations and consider intersectional impacts while
developing new technologies and digital games;
(e) Provide financial and other resources to organizations working on child
development;
(f) Adopt responsible advertising practices in relation to children and protect
children and child human rights defenders from online bullying and harassment;
(g) Establish child-responsive grievance mechanisms to handle complaints
concerning violations of children’s human rights.

92. The Special Rapporteur recommends that multilateral development banks:

(a) Conduct ex ante assessment of the impacts of project finance on the
human rights of children and future generations and include suitable clauses in their
contracts to prevent, mitigate and remediate such impacts;
(b) Provide grants and increase long-term, low-interest financing for child
development, especially to States under debt distress;
(c) Ensure that their grievance mechanisms are child-responsive to handle
complaints about violations of children’s human rights effectively.

93. The Special Rapporteur recommends that national human rights institutions:

(a) Raise awareness about and promote the human rights of children and
future generations, including by conducting public inquiries;
(b) Constitute advisory committees comprising a diverse group of children to
guide their human rights work;
(c) Establish child-responsive remedial mechanisms to deal with violations of
children’s human rights.

94. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Secretary-General appoint a
special envoy on future generations to ensure that the human rights of future
generations are mainstreamed into the work of all United Nations entities and other
international and regional organizations.

95. The Special Rapporteur recommends that international financial institutions
adopt an intersectional approach in engaging children and representatives of future
generations in their strategic policymaking, annual meetings and key decisions.

96. The Special Rapporteur recommends that educational institutions nurture
responsible leadership skills among children and offer them education to inculcate
respect for human rights, equality, diversity, democracy, peace and sustainability.

97. The Special Rapporteur recommends that school staff and childcare providers
ensure the participation of children from diverse backgrounds in their decision-making
processes and establish child-responsive grievance mechanisms to handle the grievances
of children