The Legal Protection of Children’s Health from Environmental Threats in International Law and the European Context. Addressing Children’s Particular Vulnerability

The thesis examines the protection of the vulnerability of children’s health from environmental threats in international law and the regional legal systems of Europe. While there has been ample scientific evidence that children’s health is far more vulnerable to environmental degradation than adults’, there is no direct response to this in international or regional law. Given that most environmental problems cross boundaries and must be addressed by the cooperation of states, there is a legal gap in protecting children’s health from environmental threats at the interstate level. At the heart of the justification for the special attention to the legal protection of children is their particular vulnerability to environmental threats. The thesis argues that we should move beyond the scientific notion of children’s particular vulnerability in science. Children’s universal vulnerability should be the starting point for any consideration of protection in law and policy. Based on legal theory and international law and policy trends, children’s universal vulnerability recognises the inevitability of children’s exposure to environmental degradation, while at the same time it illuminates their particular circumstances. Children’s universal vulnerability moves beyond a paternalistic, stigmatising notion of vulnerability that would render children’s circumstances exceptional. In this way, it puts children at the centre of law for their protection against environmental degradation. Through the lens of the universal vulnerability of children, the thesis then examines the available discourses of legal protection offered by environmental rights, the right to health in international law and intergenerational equity. The final part of the thesis examines the legislation within the context of Europe. The choice of the European legal context is because European regional institutions have shown over the years the commitment to protect both children's rights and environmental law. The thesis examines certain parts of EU and UNECE environmental law to see whether and to which extent they protect children’s particular vulnerability or can do so in the future. Finally, the thesis proposes pathways to protection within the existing frameworks and new dimensions