Category: Convention of the rights of the child

Climate Action, Climate change, Convention of the rights of the child

REGISTER NOW! Online International Roundtable on Education, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the World’s SDGs

Are you interested in learning about the links between education, children’s rights, and sustainability on the UN’s International Literacy Day?

Are you inspired by the leadership of children and youth to advance the global Sustainable Development Goals, especially quality education (SDG 4)?

Would you like to help implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by encouraging children’s voices?

Register now for a very special Online International Roundtable on Education, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the World’s SDGs, which takes place on Thursday 8 September 2022 at 9:00 am EST | 2:00 pm BST in celebration of International Literacy Day.

REGISTER FOR FREE HERE

The International Roundtable on Education, hosted jointly by the Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative, in partnership with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), and experts from the University of Cambridge and McGill University, among others, convenes teachers, child and youth leaders, mentors and experts on intergenerational equity, children’s rights and sustainable development for an interactive dialogue to raise awareness and speak up for education, children’s rights and the global Sustainable Development Goals.

Objectives of the 2022 Online International Roundtable

The 2022 Online International Roundtable aims to spread awareness, empowerment and implementation of the SDG4 Education and the UN CRC by: 

  • engaging children, civil society leaders and expert adults in dialogue to strengthen understanding of sustainable development and children’s rights.
  • Facilitating a common vision, action plan and action plan for children to help implement SDG4 and the UN CRC. 
  • Sharing inspiring children’s stories, written by Child Authors from around the world, with other children, teachers, leaders and civil society.
  • Raising awareness and promoting engagement by all stakeholders in support of the implementation of the SDG4 by children and strengthening awareness of the UN CRC.

The International Roundtable on Education, hosted jointly by the Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative, in partnership with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), and experts from the University of Cambridge and McGill University, among others, convenes teachers, child and youth leaders, mentors and experts on intergenerational equity, children’s rights and sustainable development for an interactive dialogue to raise awareness and speak up for education, children’s rights and the global Sustainable Development Goals.

Objectives of the 2022 Online International Roundtable

The 2022 Online International Roundtable aims to spread awareness, empowerment and implementation of the SDG4 Education and the UN CRC by: 

  • engaging children, civil society leaders and expert adults in dialogue to strengthen understanding of sustainable development and children’s rights.
  • Facilitating a common vision, action plan and action plan for children to help implement SDG4 and the UN CRC. 
  • Sharing inspiring children’s stories, written by Child Authors from around the world, with other children, teachers, leaders and civil society.
  • Raising awareness and promoting engagement by all stakeholders in support of the implementation of the SDG4 by children and strengthening awareness of the UN CRC.

REGISTER FOR FREE HERE

Climate Action, Climate change, Convention of the rights of the child, endangered species, Indigenous Peoples, Life on Land, SDG 14, SDG13, SDG15, SDGs

Register now: Free Online International Roundtable on Indigenous Children’s Voices & Rights

Are you interested in learning about the links between education, Indigenous rights and sustainability?

Are you inspired by the leadership of children and youth to advance the global Sustainable Development Goals?

Would you like to help implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, by encouraging Indigenous children’s voices?

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

Register now for a very special online International Roundtable on Indigenous Children’s Voices & Rights, which takes place on Tuesday 9 August 2021 at 8:00 EST | 11:00 EST |16:00 BST in celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

This Online International Roundtable on Indigenous Children’s Voices & Rights engages young leaders from different Nations as well as specialists and experts working to promote Indigenous Peoples’ and children’s rights. In an interactive and intergenerational dialogue, it seeks to strengthen and promote Indigenous Children’s Rights and the global Sustainable Development Goals.

 The event features Indigenous Child Author Adelyn Sophie Newman-Ting*, the first Voices of Future Generations Indigenous Child Author. Adelyn wrote Finding the Language, a creative and captivating story about reclaiming language through the land and its creatures, highlighting the interconnected cycle of life and culture. The event also features Indigenous Child Ambassadors Bella Morrisseau and Sydnee Wynter. Honoured chairs and speakers also include an Indigenous member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO Youth Advisory Group (YAG), Ms. Portia Garnons-Williams (Senior Editor of Harmony Online Journal & University of Toronto student), Master Nico Roman (Junior Editor of Harmony Online Journal & Child Ambassador, VoFG CI), Dr. Aruna Alexander (UNA- Canada, Quinte Branch), Ms. Jaydum Hunt (Interim Director, Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre, WISC)  Adv. Wayne Garnons-Williams (National Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation of Canada Chair), Ms. Elaina Cox (Senior Researcher, First Nations Treaties for SDGs Project, University of Waterloo), Ms. Eva Wu (Senior Researcher, First Nations Treaties for SDGs Project, University of Waterloo), Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (University of Cambridge / University of Waterloo / CISDL),  Prof Carey Newman Hayalthkin’geme* (University of Victoria Professor & Impact Chair, Master Carver), Adv. Neshan Gunasekera* (Lead Counsel for Peace, Justice and Governance, CISDL), Dr. Odeeth Lara-Morales (University of Waterloo / CISDL / UNA-Canada), Ms. Courtney Defriend (Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange, First Nations Health Authority) and Ms. Kyla Judge (Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s Youth Advisory Group Member and Cultural Program Officer at the UNESCO Georgian Bay Biosphere Region).

With warmest thanks to the partners and collaborators:

Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL)

First Nations Treaties & SDGs Project, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED), University of Waterloo

University of Cambridge

National Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation of Canada

Audain Professorship of Contemporary Art Practices of the Pacific Northwest, University of Victoria*

Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre Shatitsirótha’ (WISC)

And a special thanks to our friends and mentors from:

Canadian Commission for UNESCO

United Nations Association in Canada (Quinte Branch)

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

Climate Action, Climate change, Convention of the rights of the child, endangered species, Life below water, Life on Land, SDG 14, SDG13, SDG15, SDGs

Festival of Nature 2022

On Sunday, June 12, 2022, I joined the Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative to host a virtual storytime as part of the Festival of Nature.

The Festival of Nature is the UK’s largest free celebration of the natural world. (We) Children from around the globe took the audience on a magical journey by sharing our stories, hopes, dreams and vision for a sustainable world.

I was the speaker who opened up the event for the VoFG CI delegation, then Child Authors followed.

If you missed it or want to watch it again here is the video:

Convention of the rights of the child, SDGs

ONLINE INTERNATIONAL ROUNDTABLE ON EDUCATION, THE UN CRC, AND THE WORLD’S SDGS

WED 08 SEP 2021 | 9:00 EST | 14:00 BST

This note invites you to save the date for a very special online now. The registration is already open; please just click here to register at no cost.

The International Roundtable on Education, hosted jointly by the Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative, in partnership with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), and experts from the University of Cambridge, McGill University, and the University of Nairobi, among others, convenes teachers, child and youth leaders, mentors and experts on intergenerational equity, children’s rights and sustainable development for an interactive dialogue to raise awareness and speak up for education, children’s rights and the global Sustainable Development Goals.

This special online event celebrates the global launch of ten beautifully illustrated new children’s books. 

The event features VoFG CI Child Authors and Ambassadors from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, the Middle East, Oceania and the Pacific Islands. 

Further, honoured invited chairs and speakers include: Judge Prof. Marcel Szabo*, former Ombudsperson for the Rights of Future Generations and Chair of Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative, Adv. Neshan Gunasekera, CISDL Lead Counsel, Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger of the University of Cambridge and the University of Waterloo, Senior Director of the CISDL, all leaders in the VoFG CI International Commission; alongside keynote remarks from Ms. Roda Muse, Secretary-General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, together with Ms. Isabelle LeVert-Chiasson, ASPnet Coordinator with Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Prof. David Boyd (UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Environment), and Isobel Abulhoul OBE(CEO and Trustee of the Emirates Literature Foundation & International Commission, VoFG), 

The Voices of Future Generations new children’s books being celebrated with UNESCO, CISDL and partners on International Literacy Day 2021 include:

Climate Action, Climate change, Convention of the rights of the child, Eco-Council, Eco-Society, endangered species, Life below water, Life on Land

Blog post for VoFG Arabia

Hello everyone!

I want to share with you my thoughts on climate action and the protection of life on land, a post that I wrote for Voices of Future Generations Arabia. I was thrilled to write on VoFG Arabias’ blog ‘voices’ which also features the voice of Jane Goodall (the world’s best-known female scientist!!) Founder – the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace, and the voice of Isobel Abulhoul, CEO of the Emirates Literature Foundation and Festival Director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.

You can read my post below or click here: Climate action and protection of life on land – the voice of Nico Roman

Thank you, Voices of Future Generations Arabia, for this brilliant opportunity. In this blog, I would like to argue in favour of empowering children’s voices and quality education – SDG 4 & SDG 17, as I did in May during a symposium with over 1000 online participants.

My name is Nico, I am 11 and go to Kings College School in Cambridge. I am a UN Child Ambassador for the SDGs, and as part of this commitment I also edit an online blog – Nico’s Natural World – with over 9000 impressions, and hundreds of followers. Please come and visit it some time.

It is time that we all stand up for our children’s rights – as reflected in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), especially Articles 24 and 29 that promise us a healthy environment and education about nature, and also Articles 12 to 13 that guarantee us a voice in decisions that concern us.

Our future, and the futures of all species on Earth, concern us! They really do!

I might be only a small child, but I know that advancing the world’s SDGs, especially SDG 13 on Climate Action and SDG 15 to Protect Life on Land, makes the difference between a terrible global nightmare, and the future we want.

Even as our whole world is locked in frightening quarantines and curfews from the global COVID-19 pandemic, we can and must still speak out for our Earth, and for future generations of all species.

Climate change and biodiversity loss are real, dangerous and urgent.

As children, we are trying very hard to be heard, locally and globally, to stop the suffering and losses from getting even worse.

Even though we cannot vote, as children we already face the consequences of terrible climate change worldwide, including new viruses emerging, and old diseases returning, with impacts on our health and on the safely of everyone we love.

And we will face far, far worse in the future.

Currently, some decision-makers are doing the exact opposite,

backing up failing aviation and oil industries, which are causing the problem!

This is horribly unfair – it is a violation of climate justice!

The CRC promises us a healthy environment and this right means that willful destruction of natural habitats, without any regard for the plants and animals, nor for all future generations… just needs to stop.

We live in a climate emergency, and it will get worse if we can’t all work together, rather than re-starting all the harmful practices, and calling it recovery!

We also live in a biodiversity emergency, with thousands of species already lost, and many more at risk of going extinct forever—unless we all help to protect nature recovery when we plan economic recovery!

We must make sure our leaders tackle the climate and biodiversity crises with the same strength and unity they have shown us with the novel coronavirus pandemic, instead of ignoring it until everything is just too late!

If we want to make a difference, we must scale up our understanding, our education and our voices!

We need new guardian laws, institutions and networks.

The world after the COVID-19 pandemic needs to take children’s fears and interests much more seriously.

I am pleading for every single leader, including everyone reading online, to help us find new ways to stop the urgent threats of climate change and biodiversity loss, just as you promised in the SDGs.

Our rights are being directly infringed by current policies, laws and decisions – locally, nationally and internationally.

Even the smallest child CAN make a BIG difference, towards a more sustainable world for us all.

Voice of Nico Roman

Nico Roman (11), UN Child Ambassador for the SDGs, Voices of Future Generations Children’s Rights Initiative; Co-Chair, Cambridge Schools Eco-Council & YR6 Student, King’s College School (Cambridge)

Climate Action, Climate change, Convention of the rights of the child, Eco-Council, Eco-Society, endangered species, Life below water, Life on Land, SDG 14, SDG13, SDG15, SDGs

Watch our Eco-Seminars

Eco-Seminars in partnership with Cambridge Schools Eco-Council and the Voices of Future Generations Initiative

We organised free 60 minute Online Eco-Seminars to raise awareness of key sustainability challenges and solutions, while schools have been forced online in many countries. Children, students, families and members of the public free over Zoom from April 21 to June.

Each Online Eco-Seminar focused on a key sustainable development goal, such as Climate Action (SDG 13), Protecting and Restoring Life on Land (SDG 15) or Agriculture and Food Systems (SDG 2). Each Online Eco-Seminar included student Eco-Councillors and UN Voices of Future Generations child authors / ambassadors, together with world-class experts, provided a 25-minute introduction to a sustainability challenge, and discuss creative local and solutions.

We have recorded these eco-seminars (see below) in case you missed any of them or simply if you would like to watch them again.

ECO-SEMINAR 1: GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, THE PARIS AGREEMENT AND LOCAL SOLUTIONS – APRIL 21, 2020

Expert: Professor Christina Voigt, Ph.D., LL.M-Env (University of Oslo international environmental law expert and professor, IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group Chair, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Member and UNFCCC Compliance Committee Member)

Child author speaker: Jona David, founding Eco-Councillor of the Cambridge Schools Eco-Council, award-winning UNESCO VoFG Child Author of The Cosmic Climate Invention and other books, and student at Winchester College, UK

Eco-council speaker: Virginia Denmead, Cambridge Schools Eco-Councillor, Deputy Chair and Secretary, leader of St Bedes Eco-Society and student at St Bedes School, UK.

ECO-SEMINAR 2: AGRICULTURE, FOOD SYSTEMS AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE – MAY 5, 2020

Child Author speaker: Rehema Kibugi (UN Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative Child Author, Kenya)

Eco-Council speaker: Magnus Bramwell (Cambridge School’s Eco-Council Councillor and Secretary UK)

Expert: Advocate Ayman Cherkaoui (International Jurist in Climate Change Law, Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact in Morocco, Lead Counsel for Climate Change at the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law)

Expert: Dr. Amy Munro-Faure (Coordinator at the Living Lab for Sustainability at the University of Cambridge)

ECO-SEMINAR 3: CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY POLICY AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES – MAY 19, 2020

Child author speaker: Jasper Chin-Moody (UN Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative Child Author, Australia)

Eco-Council speaker: Harry Auld (Cambridge School’s Eco-Council Councillor and Treasurer, UK).

Expert: Professor Laura Diaz Anadon (University of Cambridge Climate Change Policy Professor, University of Cambridge Peterhouse Bye-Fellow, C-EENG Fellow, Energy Policy Research Group Associate Researcher, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Research Associate, 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Lead Author).

Expert: MS Helene Kotter (Architect, Owner of Architecture Practice, Member of the Voice’s of Future Generations Children’s Book Series Leadership Council). In partnership with the Cambridge Schools Eco-Council.

ECO-SEMINAR 4: NATURE, BIODIVERSITY AND SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES –  JUNE 2, 2020

Child author speaker: Adelyn Newman-Ting (Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative Child Author).

Eco-Council speaker: Nico Roman (Cambridge School’s Eco-Council Co-Chair) and Freya Lundskær-Nielsen (Eco-Council Deputy Chair).

Experts: Ms. Hawa Sydique (Research and Communications Manager at the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute).

Tara Atleo (Environmental economics researcher and indigenous sustainable development professional from the Ahousaht First Nation in BC, Canada, PhD student University of Waterloo, Laureate Canada 150 Senate Medal).

Iain Webb (Cambridge City Greenways Project Officer).

ECO-SEMINAR 5: CONSUMERISM AND WASTE – JUNE 16, 2020

Child author speaker: Andrea Wilson (Gold Award Laureate, Voices of Future Generations (VoFG) Children’s Rights Initiative, Child Author for North America of Sarah’s Journey for Tomorrow, blog post author on the Sustainable Development Goals and Child Rights).

Eco-council speaker: Luana Fernandes (Cambridge Schools Eco-Council Communications Officer, Student of Parkside School, key organiser of student climate strikes and eco-seminars).

Expert: Dr. Markus Gehring (JSD, Dr iur, MA, LLM, Law and Land Economy Lecturer; Jean Monet Chair of European Law and Sustainable Development; Centre for International Sustainable Development Law Lead Counsel for Trade, Investment & Financial Law; Hughes Hall Law Director of Studies at the University of Cambridge).

Expert: Prof. Damilola S. Olawuyi, Professor of Energy and Environmental Law


Please note: Students participated with permission and under supervision of parents/guardians, from their homes.