Sonja Vlaar
CONTRIBUTION IN ORIGINAL LANGUAGE
16-year-old Greta Thunberg and 15 other children aged 8 to 17 from 12 countries around the world have taken measures together for young people around the world. The official complaint to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child is a protest against the lack of government action to combat the climate crisis.
The Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a voluntary mechanism that allows children or adults to seek direct United Nations assistance on their behalf when a country that has ratified the Protocol has no legal remedies against them Rights filed infringement.
The five countries named in the complaint are Brazil, France, Germany, Argentina and Turkey - some of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Although the United States and China generate the most greenhouse gas emissions in the world, they have not been included. Neither country has signed the part of the contract.
UNICEF supports the petitioners, but is not involved in the complaint: “We fully support children in exercising their rights and taking a stand. Climate change will affect each and every one of them. No wonder they band together to fight back, ”said Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director. Greta says: “The climate crisis is not just about the weather. It also means that there is a lack of food and water ... places that are not habitable and therefore refugees. It is frightening."
Picture: © UNICEF / Radhika Chalasani
