USING INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INSTITUTIONS TO PROTECT CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

The document provides a comprehensive framework for using international human rights, labor, environmental, and health laws to safeguard children's health. It details specific treaties, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Stockholm Convention, and explains the roles of global institutions like the WHO and UNEP. The guide outlines six primary functions of international law: providing blueprints for action, resolving disputes, promoting compliance, providing fora for discussion, building capacity, and promoting cooperation. It also includes case studies on housing rights in the Philippines and the Yacyretá Hydroelectric Project to demonstrate practical application of these legal tools.

• Children are biologically more vulnerable to environmental hazards than adults because they breathe, ingest, and absorb more toxins on a weight-basis ratio, and their organs, such as kidneys, do not reach full functional capacity until their first birthday.
• Poverty significantly increases environmental health risks for children; those in developing countries are thirteen times more likely to die before age five than those in developed countries.
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most universally accepted human rights treaty, ratified by 192 countries, and establishes the right to the highest attainable standard of health, including clean drinking water and environmental sanitation.
• The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants aims to ban the production, trade, and use of POPs, which are toxic chemicals that bioaccumulate and transport over long distances.
• The Montreal Protocol is considered the most successful multilateral environmental agreement to date due to its effectiveness in phasing out ozone-depleting substances in the industrialized world.
• The Kyoto Protocol established a robust compliance system with legally binding emission targets for greenhouse gases to mitigate climate change, which can increase water-borne diseases through flooding.
• The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the first multilateral instrument to address a public health concern, specifically targeting the risks of environmental tobacco smoke to children.
• International law provides several mechanisms for promoting compliance, including reporting requirements, monitoring committees, and individual petition procedures in some human rights treaties.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) leads the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance (HECA), a global effort to reduce environmental risks in settings where children live, learn, play, and work.
• International financial institutions, such as the World Bank, can adversely impact children's health through projects like dams that cause displacement and increase water-borne diseases, though they have accountability mechanisms like the Inspection Panel to address these harms.

APA

Perrault, A., & Levitt, J. (2005). USING INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INSTITUTIONS TO PROTECT CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ChildrensHealth_June2005.pdf

Chicago

Perrault, Anne, and Joanna Levitt. USING INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INSTITUTIONS TO PROTECT CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. Center for International Environmental Law, 2005. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ChildrensHealth_June2005.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Perrault |first1=Anne |last2=Levitt |first2=Joanna |title=USING INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INSTITUTIONS TO PROTECT CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=31 March 2005 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ChildrensHealth_June2005.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{perrault2005using, author = {Perrault, Anne and Levitt, Joanna}, title = {{USING INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INSTITUTIONS TO PROTECT CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2005}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ChildrensHealth_June2005.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }