Youth environmental movements, actively raising their voices around the world, send a clear message: the young generations are not only environmentally-conscious, but also determined to defend their rights and preserve the only planet we have. Their call expresses the need to recognise the many links between a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment and children’s rights to be heard and participate.
Existing and developing principles and standards, together with recent advances such as UN resolutions, reports and summits or civil society campaigns and calls for legal accountability and redress seem to be a step in the ‘right’ direction and provide an empowering context for initiatives organised by children to defend their environmental rights. However, questions still remain: how many children proactively make use of human rights standards in their action against environmental damage? How can we build on the movement initiated by young climate activists to recognise children as direct agents of change? How can climate action be organised, sustained and deployed in a way that upholds children’s rights and the effective participation of children?
This MOOC asks children’s rights experts, environment specialists, human rights scholars and young climate activists to examine concepts, standards and practices of rights-based participation of children in environmental matters. Through free and open access to current knowledge and debates, the course speaks to a worldwide audience - and young people specifically - to inform those who are seeking human rights guidance, encourage those who are curious to know more, support those who are already acting, and ultimately boost effective change
The MOOC runs over 6 weeks and is organised in 3 modules:
Drawing extensively from recent debates organised by the UN Global Study Team with high-level stakeholders as well as experts, lecturers and students of the 7 Regional Master’s Programmes of the GC, the MOOC offers a wealth of specialised knowledge and examples, enabling participants to benefit from rich and varied competences. Course materials include testimonies from the following lecturers and experts (read bios here):
Designed by the Global Campus of Human Rights E-Learning Department in cooperation with renowned lecturers and experts, including Right Livelihood Laureates, the MOOC features relevant actors from a multitude of perspectives on the topic, ranging from children’s rights specialists to environment experts, from representatives of UN bodies and international organisations to young climate activists.
Maude Barlow
Right Livelihood Laureate
David R. Boyd
UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment
Victor Karunan
Right Livelihood College
Laura Lundy
Queen’s University Belfast
Raul Montenegro
Right Livelihood Laureate
Luisa Neubauer
Fridays For Future
You can start the enrolment process by clicking the "enrol" button.
The course is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which means we do not select participants on any basis. Rather, we welcome anyone who is interested in learning more about the topic to enrol and participate for free.
Our course is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which means all components are open and totally free for anyone.
There are no registration or tuition fees. The certificate of participation is also free and offered to all those who successfully complete all the course requirements (see below for details on the certificate).
We want all participants in our courses to enjoy a great learning experience and we strive to always improve accessibility. Each week of the course includes one or two video lectures with accompanying transcripts and reading materials. The texts are in PDF format, work at low bandwidths, are printable and can be zoomed to the desired size. Some readings may include pages from accessible websites. This makes all of them accessible to those who use assistive technology software such as screen readers. Likewise, weekly discussions and module quizzes can be completed through our platform which is accessible, for example, to people who use speech input, keyboard accessible controls or text to speech tools. For more details please visit EdX Website Accessibility Policy.
The course is self-paced so participants can study in their own time. However, to enhance peer learning, interactive participation and self-assessment, weekly topics and discussions as well as live webinars and module quizzes are proposed at set dates. In any case, they are all open until the end of the course to facilitate access and completion at any preferred time.
At the end of the course, if you have actively participated in all required weekly discussions and successfully completed all quizzes, you will receive a certificate confirming your participation.
Yes. All our courses can be audited for free. If you audit a course, you can participate in any or all activities and quizzes and complete them, but you will not receive a certificate. Do you still want some proof of participation? You can simply print the progress chart that you will find in your course page.