What are children’s rights? What rights of children are being affected? What can they do? The answers to these and other questions can be found in the booklet Rights of the Child and the Environment, launched by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which didactically explains the right to a safe, healthy and sustainable environment.
The booklet is a child-friendly version of the report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of the Child and the Environment. The material was developed by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
The booklet is also the result of a United Nations concern about exposure of small people to pollutants and other toxic substances. Children make up the portion of the population most vulnerable to environmental damage. Child exposure to these threats promotes disability, disease and premature mortality.
The document was launched on November 20, when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty ratified by Brazil in 1990, which allows children to seek justice in the event of possible violations of their rights.