Across the world, many are calling for change in how we ‘do’ democracy. There’s a need for ordinary citizens to be included in decision-making. In this article, we share key developments for children’s rights and deliberative democracy over the last year. We also include an invitation to join CRIN’s ‘Children and Democracy Network’, a global community of practice dedicated to shaping how we collectively advance children’s involvement in democratic processes.  

Defence for Children International, Eurochild and the Child Rights International Network condemn the attacks by some European states against the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese.

Hosted at the mouth of the Amazon, COP30 was framed as a turning point for real climate action but the reality fell far short of that promise. While some gains were made, COP30 was ultimately marked by exclusion, missed opportunities and a troubling step back from commitments to phase out fossil fuels. CRIN unpacks what COP30 delivered and what it failed to achieve from a children’s rights perspective.

Sudan’s civil war has put millions of children in danger. Alongside mass displacement and war crimes - amounting to genocide in some regions - the conflict is also degrading the environment, with military operations worsening living conditions and the impacts of climate change. CRIN’s latest briefing examines how these crises intersect to harm children and why international action is needed.

CRIN and 17 child rights and youth organisations are raising concerns about the EU’s ‘Food and Feed Safety Omnibus’. This proposed package of measures shatters key protection standards governing the approval of dangerous pesticides in the European Union. Adopting it would expose children to serious and preventable health risks, violating the rights (and futures) of our youngest citizens.

Despite welcome steps toward recognising children’s rights at COP30, governments fell short on the action needed to protect children from the climate crisis. CRIN has joined the Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative coalition to warn that without the phase-out of fossil fuels - as well a commitment to prioritise children in all climate decision-making - any progress made is purely symbolic. We cannot accept business as usual if we want to secure a liveable future.

The following recommendations have been developed by children and young people who advise and collaborate with the Child Rights International Network (CRIN). All 16 recommendations rely on and are grounded in international law, drawing from the Advisory Opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice and General Comment 26 from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, among other documents.

The CRIN team was in Geneva in August for the second part of the fifth session on a treaty to end plastic pollution (INC-5.2), where we met siblings Zara and Ashton Hawkins. These under-18 environmental activists are founders of Hidden Plastic, an organisation that exposes the often-overlooked impact of plastics. In this interview, they reflect on the breakdown of the talks, share their experience inside negotiation rooms and discuss how young people can hold governments accountable.

In this interview, we speak with CRIN’s Climate Adviser Shirley Akinyi Ochieng, a 15-year-old environmental activist from Kenya who has been leading projects, campaigns and conversations advocating for the protection of her country’s  environment. She discusses the impact of climate change in her community, as well as the importance of community awareness, government accountability and why children’s perspectives are needed in climate decision-making.

The UN’s Aarhus Convention is a legally binding international treaty that allows the public to take part in environmental governance. This article discusses how the Convention relates to children’s rights and how it can be used to advocate for environmental justice.