Climate Mobility and Children: A Virtual Symposium
Summary report of the workshop held 3-4 November 2020
Highlights
To better understand how children and young people are affected by migration and displacement linked to climate change, and to enhance their visibility in the public policy discourse, UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) jointly hosted a virtual symposium entitled Climate Mobility and Children in early November 2020. The event was attended by 45 experts, including representatives from UN agencies, academia, civil society, policymakers, as well as young climate and migration activists.
The rich and diverse conversations that have taken place during the symposium can be organized under three key themes:
- narratives and language that shape public perceptions of climate-related mobility;
- the information gap on child specific climate-related mobility; and
- the protection gap manifested in the absence of children in policy and legal frameworks addressing climate mobility.
Taking these issues into account, participants also deliberated on possible solutions and articulated a set of recommendations that could pave the path to more inclusive and child-centric approaches.
