For the first time, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has explicitly affirmed the children’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, issuing comprehensive interpretation of Member States’ obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Convention, created in 1989 and ratified by 196 states, outlines universal children’s rights such as the right to life, survival and development, and the right to health. A General Comment provides legal guidance on what these rights imply for a specific topic or area of legislation. The now published “General Comment No. 26 on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change”, explicitly addresses the climate emergency, the collapse of biodiversity and pervasive pollution, outlining countermeasures to protect the lives and life perspectives of children. Philip Jaffé, member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child states: “Children worldwide have been leading the fight against climate change; calling on their governments and corporations to take action to protect the planet and their future. With its General Comment No. 26, the Committee on the Rights of the Child not only echoes and amplifies children’s voices, but also clearly defines the rights of children in relation to the environment that States Parties should respect, protect and fulfil… collectively and urgently!” “This new General Comment marks a vital step forward in the recognition that every child on Earth has the right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Governments must now take urgent action to address the global environmental crisis in order to breathe life into these inspiring words,” says David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment. General Comment No. 26 specifies that States are responsible not only for protecting 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. Furthermore, it underlines that States can be held accountable not only for environmental harm occurring within their borders, but also for the harmful impacts of environmental damage and climate change beyond their borders. Particular attention is to be paid to disproportionate harm faced by children in disadvantaged situations. The 196 States that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child are urged to take immediate action including organizing the phase out of coal, oil and natural gas and shifting to renewable energy sources, improving air quality and ensuring access to clean water, transforming industrial agriculture and fisheries to produce healthy and sustainable food, and protecting biodiversity. Terre des Hommes — the Committee’s official partner for the development of General Comment No. 26 — led a process with multi-level stakeholders, significantly involving and engaging children through online consultations to inform the shape and substance of the text. The international child rights organization coordinated a global Advisory Board of experts and a team of 12 child advisors aged 11 – 17 to support the Committee. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), as a member of the Advisory Board, provided further technical expertise and helped collect views from children around the world as part of the consultation process. One of the child advisors, Āniva, a 17-year-old climate and child rights activist from the Pacific Islands, comments: “To me, the General Comment means worldwide change that is necessary as we move forward in fighting environmental issues and take global action in protecting our planet for our generation and the generations to come. It gives children a stronger basis in international law to enforce our Rights to a Healthy Environment. Globally, we are seeing more action for people to protect the environment through Human Rights and GC26 forms an important part of this.” General Comment No. 26 assists in interpreting States’ commitment under the Paris Agreement to respect, promote and consider their child rights obligations when taking action to address climate change. It also makes it clear that child rights impact assessments must be undertaken for all environment-related legislation, policies and projects, regulations, budget or other decisions. States will have to report periodically to the UN Committee on relevant progress they have made in protecting children’s environmental rights. “Climate financing and policy decisions continue to neglect the needs of children,” said Paloma Escudero, UNICEF Special Adviser on Advocacy for Child Rights and Climate Action. “This must change. The General Comment is an urgent call for countries to prioritize action in every aspect of childhood impacted by climate change, such as a child’s right to education, to safe water and a healthy environment. The climate crisis is a child rights crisis. Every government has an obligation to protect the rights of every child in every corner of the planet, especially those boys and girls living in countries that have contributed least to this problem but are enduring the most dangerous floods, droughts, storms and heat.” General Comment No. 26 can be accessed here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/general-comments-and-recommendations/general-comment-no-26-childrens-rights-and Child-friendly versions of General Comment No. 26 will be published on 18 September 2023 as part of the official launch of the General Comment during the Committee’s forthcoming session in Geneva, Switzerland.

In coordination with the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (MoESCS), and the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Tavush regional authorities and other partners, and with the financial support of the European Union, UNICEF opened a new preschool center in Dovegh settlement of Noyemberian consolidated community. Located near the border between Armenian and Azerbaijan, Dovegh is home to 502 residents and 145 children, where 3-5-year-olds have never had a preschool to go to. “The early years of life are critical for child’s development. When children benefit from early learning, as an immediate result, it boosts their social, emotional, and cognitive skills, boosting their readiness for school and reducing the gap between socially advantaged and disadvantaged children. It also has long-term benefits for the society, enabling children to reach their full developmental potential later as adults and to participate effectively in social, civic and economic life of their communities. The most important skills in life we first learn at preschool,” noted Mrs Christine Weigand, UNICEF Representative in Armenia. Starting today, 18 young children will benefit from early learning services in Dovegh, and more will enroll by the end of the year. Located on the second floor of the community administrative building, the preschool service has a fully renovated and furnished entrance hall, two playrooms and two separate WASH facilities for children and adults, and a kitchenette. The center has a solar photovoltaic system, a broad range of didactic materials and toys, as well as a first aid kit. Together with Step by Step Benevolent Foundation, UNICEF has also provided three women in the community with pre-service training. The preschool also has a newly built small outdoor playground near the building. “Early childhood education is a pre-requisite for ensuring that all children can exercise their right to learn and to develop. The roots of learning poverty and why nowadays children struggle in foundational learning skills start in the lack of early learning services to make children ready for school. This is also why we need to invest in early childhood educators, quality standards, training and development, their working conditions and career progression,” said Mrs. Ashkhen Gyurjyan, Step by Step Benevolent Foundation. Together with partners, in the past three years UNICEF has set up 17 preschool services in Lori, Tavush, Syunik, Shirak and Gegharkunik regions, in line with the alternative model developed previously by Ministry of Education and UNICEF specifically for rural areas. By the end of 2023 works for establishment of 8 more alternative preschool services will be completed ensuring that children in remote rural areas are also given a fair start in education. The model has proven not only cost-effective but also sustainable, as communities commit to covering related salary and operational costs, while the preschool educators continue to receive professional development support from the lead kindergarten of the consolidated community. This model also contributes to Armenia’s objective of increasing the coverage of early learning services across the country.

The aim of the initiative, implemented with the support of the Austrian Development Agency and in coordination with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, was to equip teachers of 7-11 grades with essential knowledge on project-based learning and on climate change issues to develop solutions to environmental issues faced by communities across Tavush, Syunik, Gegharkunik, Lori, Shirak and Vayots Dzor. “Becoming more and more aware of the environmental issues and climate change is extremely important. Climate change may still feel like a distant problem, but it is very real and already tangible in many ways. No one is more affected by a changing climate and its implications than children and adolescents, which is why it’s crucial to engage with them to drive climate action. UNICEF commends the important decision of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport to include green education in the State Education Development Programme until 2030 and to include climate change and green skills as a cross-cutting theme in the state education curriculum,” noted Silvia Mestroni, Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Armenia. Over the course of five months, a total of 376 teachers from 272 settlements across the six regions actively participated in series of online and offline trainings to gain a thorough understanding of the content and structure of project-based learning methods. Under the guidance of experienced mentors, they successfully applied their acquired knowledge, engaging 2015 students to implement 275 environmental projects. “At the Ayb Educational Foundation, we continuously plan, localize and implement leading learning approaches of the world with a strong faith in our mission of spreading high-quality education in our country. Ayb has exceptional experience in project-based learning. It was effectively applied at Ayb School since 2015 and was one of the key components of the Ayb Hybrid Learning program. I highly believe that the knowledge investment in teachers will help them in forming new ways of thinking, mastering new methodologies, and leading them to systematic changes. Now, I’m more than sure that the skills and experience gained will help them in September with new educational standards,” stated Sona Koshetsyan, the executive director of the Ayb Educational Foundation. During the closing ceremony, both teachers and students showcased their completed works, sharing insights on the knowledge they have gained throughout the programme. The projects focused on a wide range of environmental issues, including waste collection and recycling, prevention of deforestation, tree planting, as well as raising awareness on the harmful effects of mining emissions, the consequences of deforestation, and other environmental issues. “The issue of deforestation is a priority for our village, as this year it has reached to an alarming scale, causing tangible negative impact on the environment. We worked with students to establish a park near our school,” shared Tigran Hovsepyan, teacher from Darbas village, Syunik. In Nahapetavan village, Shirak, teachers also worked with students to plant 100 trees near their school. “Our objective in Yeghegnadzor was to decrease the level of air pollution, usually caused by burning garbage. We brainstormed several approaches to efficient waste collection and recycling. Collaborating with 15 dedicated students, we completed research, raised awareness of the community, offering practical alternatives. We held a number of information sharing sessions, showcasing alternative ways to utilize waste instead of burning it. We repurposed paper waste to craft garbage cans that are now widely utilized in the school. This project not only prompted us to view things through an environmental lens, but also embrace our responsibility for the world we live in,” shared the group of students from Yeghegnadzor school.

YEREVAN – UNICEF and partners announced about the launch of the first child-friendly safe space in Yerevan that will provide multidisciplinary and multi-agency protection for child victims of violence from secondary victimization and child-friendly justice approaches, where children could be interviewed and examined for forensic purposes, comprehensively assessed and receive crisis intervention services from appropriate professionals. Simply said, it was established to serve the best interests of child victims and to ensure due process of law. This new child-friendly safe space is modeled following and adapting the international Barnahus approach to child friendly justice that unites under one roof law enforcement, criminal justice, child protection services and medical and mental health workers to cooperate and assess together the situation of the child. The Barnahus approach has shown to avoid secondary victimization of victims and increase the effectiveness of the justice process, by creating child-friendly environment for investigative actions, limiting number of interviews carried out by many agencies in different locations, excluding contact between victim and alleged offender at all times, taking measures to protect the privacy, identity and image of child victims and helping them to rebuild. This new model of work was launched by UNICEF in partnership with the Fund for Armenian Relief Child Protection Center with the financial support of the European Union. It was made possible with strong commitment and leadership from the Investigative Committee, Ministries of Labor and Social Affairs, Justice, and Health, as well as the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Armenia. The “Safe corner” in Yerevan includes a room that has a child-friendly atmosphere with age-appropriate toys, reading and activities, designed to make children feel comfortable before and during the interviews. In order to spare the child from having to tell his or her story on several occasions and to several individuals, the forensic interview conducted by investigators and certified psychologists can be observed from a different room by justice professionals and videotaped to be possibly used in court. Once in the room, children will soon be able to undergo also medical examination. The multidisciplinary team of specialists, including the psychologist, a social worker and a doctor will provide crisis intervention and also determine the need for short or long term therapeutic and other support services. In the past years, UNICEF supported amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code for children to be interviewed only with the support of certified forensic interviewer psychologists and development of secondary legislation. In addition, UNICEF supported the Ministry of Justice in the development of training modules and subsequent training and certification of 53 psychologists. UNICEF works with partners to also establish a Barnahus-like safe space in the premises of Child and Family Support Centre / Crisis Centre in Kapan, Syunik marz, this June, hoping that in due time this approach will become a full integral part of the national justice and child protection systems, making sure that all children who are victims of violence, regardless the form of violence, have equal access to child-friendly justice and are provided with a multi-disciplinary response that helps them rebuild their life.