General Comment No.26 is the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child’s authoritative guidance on how children’s rights are impacted by the environmental crisis and what governments must do to uphold these rights to ensure that children live in a clean, healthy and sustainable world. 

A series of online and offline consultations took place at local, regional and global levels between December 2021 – February 2023 to inform the drafting of the General Comment. They included a diversity of stakeholders, especially children, young people and communities most impacted by the environmental crisis. The first phase of consultations informed the creation of the General Comment first draft, while the second sought feedback on the first draft.