STEP-UP! Joint commitment by Heads of UN Entities (Rights of Future generations)

Joint commitment by Heads of UN Entities, endorsed on 17 June 2021, in response to the Secretary-General's Call-to-Action for human rights:

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• Support and carry out effective advocacy for global recognition and realization of young people’s and children’s inalienable right to a safe, clean,healthy and sustainable environment,recognizing the disproportionate impacts that the climate crisis and environmental harm have on them and future generations, as well as acknowledging their role as key stakeholders and critical agents of change; and, increasing United Nations’ support to Member States, at all levels, for legislative and policy frameworks that promote and implement the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and for effective access to justice and remedies for environment-related matters.
• Take necessary steps to support the scaling-up of the meaningful participation of children and young people in all stages of the definition, implementation and review of UN policies, and inform and encourage a cross-cutting focus on children and youth in climate action, inter alia, when and where applicable, in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and relevant environmental agreements,human rights laws and standards at all levels, the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, in countries’ national climate adaptation and mitigation measures, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Universal Periodic Reviews (UPRs), in support to the work of United Nations human rights mechanisms including the UN Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures, and in long-term greenhouse gas emissions development strategies, including by considering the particular role and responsibilities of the private sector; and, in this spirit, we commit to systematically consider and support the inclusion of the rights and needs of children, youth and future generations in decision-making processes, through inter-generational dialogues and relevant mechanisms at all levels, also recognizing the need for these to be co-designed with the participation of children and youth;
• Enable and support the leadership and empowerment of children and young people in environmental action, with a particular emphasis on the most marginalized in an effort to leave no one behind, taking into consideration the unique and intersecting forms of discrimination that many children and youth face, by supporting human rights-based and child-,youth-and gender-inclusive needs analyses and assessments as well as project design, implementation and monitoring, by enhancing opportunities for civic engagement, political participation, learning, access to digital skills and decent jobs for youth -including within the United Nations through relevant opportunities-and by offering access to targeted,flexible and agile funding for children and youth capacity development and youth leadership;
• Partner systematically, genuinely and meaningfully with diverse groups of children and youth at local, national, regional and global levels, by supporting the meaningful participation of children and youth in decision-making spaces, protecting and promoting their civic space, including by enhancing support for the protection against retaliation, reprisals and intimidation, convening inter-generational dialogues and promoting inter-generational partnerships, amplifying their voices, expanding avenues for their meaningful participation in decision-making on climate change, enabling and fostering consistency and longevity for youth-led efforts in environment and human rights processes, and promoting transformative education with respect to nature, capacity-development,networking, and financing;
• Uphold, respect, protect and fulfill all human rights, including the rights of children and youth with respect to the environment and climate justice, including the right to life, the right to play, the right to culture, the right to meaningful and informed participation, indigenous peoples’ rights and the right to development; and promote core principles related to the rights of children and youth, including non-discrimination, gender equality, inclusivity, intersectionality, as well as key commitments including “do no harm”, leaving no-one behind, a precautionary and preventive approach, intergenerational equity and social cohesion, and indigenous people’s rights, all of which are fundamental to the effective enjoyment of the right of children, youth and future generations to a healthy environment;
• Promote relevant child-and youth-inclusive and child-and youth-led research, data collection, analysis and accountability, to nurture decisions that truly respond to addressing the impacts of the environmental crisis on children, youth and future generations, and that explore frontier issues related to human rights, climate and environmental justice and child and youth empowerment, more broadly."