UN Expert Urges Global Action to Safeguard Children's Right to Development

"A right to development perspective should enhance children’s rights as established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child," Deva stated.

Millions of children worldwide are facing significant obstacles in realizing their right to development, according to a UN expert who warned that the relentless focus on economic growth threatens to undermine the human rights of future generations. Surya Deva, the Special Rapporteur on the right to development, addressed the issue at the 57th session of the Human Rights Council, highlighting how environmental pollution, climate change, conflict, food insecurity, and other pressing challenges disproportionately affect children—who are not responsible for these crises.

In his report, Deva outlined five key action pillars that governments, international organizations, and businesses should prioritize to advance children's rights and development: investing in child development, nurturing responsible leadership, enabling participation, ensuring safety, and facilitating remediation.

"A right to development perspective should enhance children’s rights as established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child," Deva stated. He emphasized that decision-makers must acknowledge children's agency in their own development and that of others.

Deva called for safe spaces for children and urged a greater focus on cultivating leadership skills and educating young people about human rights, equality, diversity, democracy, peace, and sustainability. "Current generations hold a responsibility to ensure that future generations can fully realize their human rights," he asserted.

Expressing disappointment, Deva noted that the upcoming Declaration on Future Generations, expected to be adopted at the Summit of the Future next week, lacks the language of rights for future generations. He advocated for a broad interpretation of this concept to include all life forms that will inhabit the Earth.

To advance the rights of future generations, Deva urged the appointment of a special envoy to integrate these rights into the UN’s work and to implement four critical policy shifts: adopting rights-based language, embedding intergenerational equity in assessments, facilitating future generations’ representation in decision-making, and reorienting financial planning to support their economic capabilities.

"Taking the rights of future generations seriously is imperative for sustainable development," Deva concluded.