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Children everywhere should have the right to clean air
Every child should be able to breathe clean, unpolluted air, yet nine out of ten children around the world are breathing in toxins that exceed safe levels. This poses serious risks to their health and development. Breathing clean air is vital to help children realize their full potential and live long healthy lives.
Through the Freedom to Breathe campaign young change-makers joined together to call on the United Nations to acknowledge their fundamental right to clean air. Teachers across the world played a vital role in making sure children's voices were heard.
Awarded campaign video
Update September 2023:
After several years of campaigning, we are thrilled that for the first time the UN’S “General comment No. 26 (2023) on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change" they published explicitly mentions the need to improve air quality.
This is a massive achievement for the 29,000 children, alongside 62 civil society organizations, academics, and businesses, who have formed the Freedom to Breathe campaign. Whilst we still have work to do to ensure the future of our world’s air quality, we can all be incredibly proud of this big step in the right direction.
You can read more about GC26 and learn how to participate in the official launch set for September here:
https://childrightsenvironment.org/general-comment-no-26/
Our teaching resources have been developed by educational professionals who understand the local curriculum. The teaching resources will achieve three key learning outcomes for the students:
- Understand the state of air quality in their city, and how it compares to other cities.
- Understand the impacts of air quality on their physical and mental health as well as their ability to learn.
- Understand what the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is, focused on their rights to the best possible health, clean water, and a clean environment, noting the absence of the explicit “right to clean air”.
Explore the resources used in the campaign for each country below
