Climate change is increasingly robbing the fundamental rights of children
No one is immune from the effects of climate change. No doubt, climate change is stealing children’s childhood. Due to the negative impact of climate change, farmers’ income is decreasing.
Hardworking people lose their jobs and fall into poverty. Costs for lower-middle-class families are rising. Naturally, climate change has a negative impact on children. Children from low-income families have to work for their survival and families.
Thousands of coastal children are engaged in fishing. Many children work on other people’s boats and hand their earnings to families. Many parents involve children in their work.
Many families have sent their children to work in the city. There is less awareness among coastal families about children. This, to some extent, makes sense as climate change has messed up their entire life system.
Children from low-income families who are victims of climate change suffer from malnutrition and various diseases. Many children deprive of health care. Many children are dropping out of education due to joining work.
Children who leave their villages and migrate to the city with their families are in worse conditions. Climate refugee children stay with their families in slums in the cities. Even after coming to the cities, these children are not returning to the world of education!
The family guardians employ the children in small-scale factories or small professions in the city. Many children are going astray due to dropping out of education. Many are addicted to drugs from a young age.
Many children also involve themselves with local youth gangs. Little by little, thousands of children are losing their childhood due to climate change.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the number of child laborers worldwide is about 160 million. A 2016 survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) says that about 3.4 million children are engaged in child labor in various sectors in the country.
Currently, this number is over 4 million due to the reality of corona and the impact of climate change. Half of the children involved in child labor are affected by climate change.
Effects of drought, cyclones, and salinity somehow rob the child of childhood. Furthermore, a person with a wasted childhood will also mess up in the future.
At a time when a child should have a book in his hand, a time when he should be playing sports with his school friends, thousands of children are forced to engage in child labor due to climate change.
Usually, there is no one to take after the poor children. The irony is that hundreds of children today work for a living instead of getting an education.
No wonder if a child’s childhood is lost, it hinders the country’s development. No one wants a child’s future ruined by climate change and poverty. Every child is a potential and future asset to the country.
Child-friendly planning should occur in northern and southern regions where climate change’s impact is most significant. By 8 a.m., all children will be in compulsory school – if such rules are introduced in the respective areas, cooperation with children’s education facilities will reduce child labor.
Every day some children lose their childhood because of climate problems. There is no reason to think that the problem of climate change will end soon. If the problem is not profoundly understood and the solution is not found, it will be challenging to handle the situation in the future.
It is the responsibility of everyone, including the government, to protect children who are victims of climate change. We must find ways to adapt and deal with climate problems and ensure our children’s childhood losses due to climate problems.
