Securing the Rights and Protection of Children on the Move
Background Paper | How do children moving because of the effects of climate change fit into existing international laws and frameworks?
Highlights
There is considerable (though still insufficient) literature on the impacts of climate change on children. Compared with adults, children are physically more vulnerable to the direct effects of extreme heat, drought, and natural disasters. For example, a World Health Organization study of mortality linked to climatic events globally over three decades ago found that environmental factors accounted for a quarter of the deaths in the general population but for more than a third of deaths among children under 14. In addition to the physical impacts and risks they face due to environmental factors, climate-driven mobility of children, whether displacement, voluntary or forced migration, is another area where more research and data is needed.
This short background paper is intended to address the question: how do children moving because of the effects of climate change fit into existing international laws and frameworks? The paper also briefly considers the intersection of COVID-19, climate change and migration, with a focus on the particular effects on children.
